CALGARY — Warehouse automation company Attabotics received a US$350-million takeover bid from U.S.-based Honeywell in 2020, The Logic has learned, an offer that underscores how far the once-promising Calgary startup fell before entering creditor protection earlier this month.

Honeywell, an industrial giant headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., offered to purchase 100 per cent of the robotics company’s equity in an all-cash deal, according to a non-binding expression of interest obtained by The Logic. 

The prospective bid, which has not yet been reported, was never finalized. Five years later, on July 2, 2025, Attabotics unexpectedly filed for bankruptcy protection, laying off 192 employees.

The insolvency proceedings marked a sharp shift in fortune for one of Calgary’s most prominent tech startups, which has raised about $200 million and once counted major retailers like Nordstrom and Canadian Tire among its clients. Founded in 2016 and led by its co-founder and CEO Scott Gravelle, the company offers a fulfillment system that uses robots to sort, retrieve and store warehouse inventory. Unlike typical automated systems, Attabotics’ robots move in three dimensions within an enormous cube-like structure, giving it a more vertical orientation that is designed to save retailers valuable warehouse floor space. 

Several Crown corporations and taxpayer-funded agencies have backed Attabotics through a mixture of grants, loans, credit facilities and equity. The list includes Export Development Canada, the Business Development Bank of Canada, the Strategic Innovation Fund and the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund. The company’s prominent investors include Honeywell; New York-based Comcast Ventures; San Francisco-based Forerunner Ventures; and Teachers’ Venture Growth alongside its parent firm, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Honeywell did not immediately respond to The Logic’s request for comment. Attabotics’ website and related contact pages were not accessible as of Tuesday evening, and Gravelle did not respond to messages sent by text and on LinkedIn. Representatives of Forerunner Ventures and Comcast Ventures did not respond to requests for comment, either. 

The Logic spoke with four people who had knowledge of Honeywell’s interest in acquiring Attabotics. None could confirm whether the proposal was rejected by the board or dropped on Honeywell’s account, and neither company explained why the proposed takeover never went through. 

Honeywell—a multinational firm specializing in aerospace, automation and other industries—is a longtime Attabotics backer. A year before it floated the offer, it made its first investment in the Calgary startup as part of Attabotics’ US$25-million Series B round in July 2019, according to PitchBook. In August 2020, a few months after proposing the acquisition, it added to that investment, this time joining the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in the company’s US$50-million Series C.

In the expression-of-interest document, which was directed to former Attabotics board member Eurie Kim, a managing partner at Forerunner, and Rick Prostko, the then-senior managing director at Comcast Ventures, Honeywell said it planned to conduct a 45-day review of Attabotics’ operations. 

Honeywell called the proposed takeover “strategically compelling” in the document, saying it would let the firm service clients across the fulfillment supply chain. 

Attabotics has never publicized a valuation. Days before the company’s latest fundraising in November 2022—a Series C1 totalling US$71.7 million—the company authorized a suite of C-series shares worth nearly US$181 million in total. Those are in addition to previously authorized A-series, B-series and common shares. The filings show the number of shares a company has authorized, but doesn’t specify how many it ultimately issued, or sold, to investors.

In the 2022 filing, Attabotics had raised its total number of authorized common shares to 13 million, up from 11 million in an earlier 2020 amendment. 

An affidavit filed as part of Attabotics bankruptcy proceedings said that no individual had significant control over the startup.  

Attabotics began seeking buyers for the remainder of its assets when it filed for bankruptcy protection in early July. According to court filings, Attabotics’ current book value—including its “highly valuable suite of intellectual property”—total $31.6 million. The company’s liabilities are $73.8 million.

Clarification: This story has been updated to specify that the list of Attabotics’ backers includes Crown corporations