The latest development follows last year’s report when the company was evaluating a U.S. IPO
Its founder said that the firm chose a mix of equity and debt financing as the most effective structure for its growth plans and for serving its customers
GreyOrange’s IPO is yet to materialise and the latest fundraise comes after four years
Tiger Global-backed Indian robotics firm GreyOrange has raised $110 Mn in the latest funding round.
The latest development at GreyOrange follows last year’s report that the company was evaluating a U.S. listing to raise $500 Mn-$600 Mn. At that time, it was reported that the initial public offering (IPO) could value the robotics company at $1.5 Bn-$1.7 Bn.
“Given our track record of performance, we were in the advantageous position of strategically selecting when and how to best fuel our continued growth,” said Samay Kohli, cofounder and CEO of GreyOrange. He said this while talking about the company’s decision to go through growth financing versus a more traditional fundraising round, according to a TC report.
Kohli further said that the firm chose a mix of equity and debt financing as the most effective structure for its growth plans and for serving its customers.
Last year, GreyOrange joined the list of several other Indian companies such as Grofers (now Blinkit), Flipkart, Dream11 and Pine Labs that had been planning to list in the U.S.
As per reports, the company was already in its early stage of discussions with investment banks such as JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley for its listing. At that time the company was aiming to file an IPO by the end of 2021 or early this year.
However, GreyOrange going back to raise additional capital could be a result of its delaying IPO.
“Success for us looks like solving big challenges in fulfillment for as many customers as possible globally,” said Kohli to the publication.
“We’re firmly focused on how we can deliver on surging demand from our customers as quickly and efficiently as possible. An IPO is certainly a viable option to make that happen in the future.”
Meanwhile, GreyOrange’s latest funding round comes four years after the firm raised a $140 Mn Series C funding led by Mithril Capital, with the participation of Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal, VC firm Blume Ventures and more. The company had then planned to use the funds to set up its own manufacturing supply chain and invest in R&D.
Akash Gupta and Samay Kohli founded GreyOrange in 2011, which designs, manufactures, and deploys AI-based robotic systems that can automate routine tasks at warehouses and fulfilment centres of large ecommerce and retail firms. GreyOrange has manufacturing units in India, China, and the U.S., with R&D units in different countries including India.
The company has been handling warehousing for Indian companies such as Flipkart, Myntra, PepperFry, Mahindra Tractors, and more, while it has also collaborated with Walmart Canada recently.
In India’s broader software-driven fleet management space, GreyOrange competes with startups such as BlackBuck and Fleetx.io, although these companies provide different offerings and work under different business models.
In the meantime, the global AI-powered robots market is projected to grow to $35.3 Bn from $6.9 Bn in 2021 by 2026, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.6%.
Keeping pace with the growth trajectory, several robotic startups fetched funding in recent times. For instance, Bengaluru-based robotics startup CynLr raised $4.5 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by Speciale Invest and growX Ventures last month.
Likewise, in December last year, supply-chain robotics startup Unbox Robotics, which specialises in robotics-based fulfilment and distribution technology for ecommerce, retail and logistics enterprises raised $7 Mn in a Series A funding round led by 3one4 Capital with participation from Sixth Sense Ventures and Redstart Labs.
Another example, AI-based robotics startup Haber raised $20 Mn in a Series B funding round led by Ascent Capital in November last year.
