GreyOrange Pte. Ltd. yesterday announced that it has closed $110 million in growth financing that it said demonstrates the ongoing market shift to automated fulfillment. The company said it plans to use the capital to continue its global expansion and grow the adoption of its robotics hardware and inventory optimization software.
“Our fulfillment platform revolutionizes how the largest and best-known retail brands in the world, such as Walmart and H&M, fulfill their promises to customers, employees, and shareholders,” stated Samay Kohli, co-founder and CEO of GreyOrange. “As e-commerce sales soar, brands face a stark reality: embrace automation or cede customers to the competition.”
“We orchestrate fulfillment and optimize inventory in a complex global supply chain environment for more companies that ship millions of items each day than any other player in the market outside of Amazon,” he said. “This growth financing enables us to rapidly deliver our premium solution to meet the expansion demand from existing customers, rapidly onboard our high volume of new customers, reach new partners, and accelerate our unique product roadmap with an expanded suite of software solutions and predictive analytics.”
GreyOrange addresses 3PL labor woes
As labor shortages, volatile lead times, global supply chain problems, and rising costs affect retailers, they are rapidly implementing automation, said GreyOrange. Seventy-three percent of third-party logistics providers (3PLs) reported finding, training and retaining qualified labor as their most critical challenge, according to the company.
GreyOrange claimed that its omnichannel fulfillment platform gives companies choice, flexibility, and resilience in driving digital transformations. The company, which has U.S. headquarters in Atlanta and offices worldwide, added that its Ranger autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and software can increase productivity, mitigate labor challenges, and improve employee and customer experiences.
By taking on repetitive tasks, robots can improve working environments for warehouse associates and allow smart management teams to implement upskilling programs that improve employee retention, said GreyOrange. The company said its platform enables its customers to fulfill high-volume e-commerce orders seven times faster and with 50% less physical effort.
The platform, which integrates across every node in a retailer’s fulfillment network, can provide adaptive learning and continuous process automation with high resiliency, said GreyOrange. It also provides an ecosystem for third-party software, robotics, and hardware application development, said the company.
The GreyMatter software uses machine learning to orchestrate the most efficient movement of inventory. GreyOrange said its systems can be installed in as little as 12 weeks with minimal disruption to existing operations.
Walmart to include GreyOrange in new facility
GreyOrange said its customers include Walmart, COS, Coupang, and GXO Logistics. The company said it grew across new customers, applications, and geographies while achieving over 170% gross retention in contracted revenue from existing customers in 2021.
Walmart recently announced a new sortable fulfillment center in Rocky View County, Alberta. The facility will include the latest logistics technology to achieve productivity gains with less physical effort. Walmart will be using GreyOrange's technology for the first time at this fulfillment center.
GreyOrange said its advanced operating system will help associates store, pick, and sort items by using smart and flexible storage abilities to manage a large and wide variety of inventory. As a result, the order-fulfillment process will be faster, easier, and more efficient, it asserted.
Financing to support SaaS, customer service
Mithril Capital Management led GreyOrange's latest financing. It was joined by current and new investors, with separate financing provided by funds and accounts under management by BlackRock. The company previously closed $140 million in Series C funding in 2018.
“GreyOrange is trusted by the biggest names in retail to help them do what they do best, better,” said Ajay Royan, managing general partner at Mithril Capital Management. “Demand for the GreyOrange omnichannel fulfillment platform continued to increase, consistent with our high expectations as retailers come to terms with the immediate necessity of robotic automation in fulfillment.”
“We are particularly excited about the expansion underway with GreyOrange’s SaaS applications, such as gStore, which deliver new and innovative supply chain solutions to discerning consumers across the GreyOrange customer base,” Royan said.
gStore is a mobile-first software-as-a-service (SaaS) app that turns stores into tech-enabled, personalized experience hubs for customers, as well as dynamic fulfillment centers for online commerce using real-time management of in-store inventory. Retailers can deploy gStore in stores, as standalone software, or as part of GreyOrange’s ecosystem-wide fulfillment platform.
“The leading brands and retailers we spoke with that use the GreyOrange platform to transform their fulfillment centers and enhance the work environment for their associates experienced substantial productivity improvements,” said Brad Pritchard, managing director and head of venture lending at BlackRock Capital Group.
GreyOrange said the funding will further support the adoption of its platform in warehouses, distribution centers, and retail stores. The company also plans to use a portion of the debt financing provided by BlackRock to create 300 jobs across its customer success, sales, marketing, product, and engineering teams, with a special focus on “delivering exceptional customer experiences.”
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