The company makes robotic towers for warehouses that store, sort and retrieve products. Investors in the Series B round included Coatue Management, a New York-headquartered private equity firm; the venture capital arms of telecommunications giant Comcast and appliance manufacturer Honeywell; San Francisco-based Forerunner Ventures; and local energy billionaire David Werklund. (The Logic)   

Talking point: Attabotics’ system reduces the amount of fulfillment-centre space a company needs by 85 per cent, and labour by 80 per cent, according to CEO Scott Gravelle. That kind of technology is in demand, as large retailers and e-commerce giants like Walmart and Amazon open smaller warehouses or near U.S. cities to offer same-day delivery. While Attabotics’ customers install its system in their facilities, some competitors are setting up their own fulfillment centres and renting out space to retailers. In October 2018, Tel Aviv-based CommonSense Robotics opened its first facility in the city, which is being used by drug store chain SuperPharm; the company is launching U.S. sites this year. Takeoff Technologies, based in Waltham, Mass., plans to have 50 fulfillment centres across the country by the end of 2020. CommonSense and Takeoff have raised US$26 million and US$51 million, respectively, to Attabotics’ US$32.7 million.