Series C round will fund research and development, international expansion to meet growing interest in the company's on-demand automation solution, company leaders say.
Logistics technology provider Fetch Robotics has raised $46 million in a Series C round of funding and announced plans to use the capital to expand internationally and further develop its automation solutions, the company said today.
Led by Fort Ross Ventures, the round also included support from CEAS Investments, Redwood Technologies, TransLink Capital, and Zebra Ventures, with participation from the firm's existing investors, as well. The San Jose, Calif.-based company has raised $94 million to date in support of its mobile robots and cloud robotics solution, the company said.
"Customers have responded enthusiastically to our unique Cloud Robotics solution, and we're responding by securing the funds we need to continue growing and enhancing our offerings," CEO Melonee Wise said in a prepared statement. "The competitive pressures for excellence in logistics have never been greater. Our Autonomous Mobile Robots and cloud platform enables our customers to meet their customers' demands while meeting their own financial objectives."
Third-party logistics provider RK Logistics Group and transportation provider Ryder System Inc. are among the large companies that have implemented Fetch Robotics technology recently. Another firm joining their ranks is transportation and logistics solutions provider Universal Logistics Holdings, Inc., which recently deployed the Fetch Cloud Robotics Platform in its one-million square-foot, Smyrna, Tenn., logistics facility, according to Fetch Robotics. The facility serves the nearby Nissan Motors plant, the largest auto manufacturing facilty in North America.
According to Des Plaines, Illinois-based CJ Logistics, the 1.1 million-square foot building, which is expected to open in the first half of 2026, will feature “advanced automation technologies” to increase efficiency. No further details were provided.
The DC will be CJ Logistics America’s second distribution center in Elwood, a location that offers ease of access to key logistics infrastructure such as the BNSF and Union Pacific rail lines and O’Hare International Airport. Additionally, most of the United States is reachable in two days from Elwood, offering flexibility and a competitive advantage for CJ Logistics America’s customers, the company said.
“The partnership with KOBC has been a unique way to expand our relationship with Korea, especially during a time of geopolitical and economic uncertainty throughout the world,” Kevin Coleman, CEO of CJ Logistics America, said in a release. “This new logistics center, with its advanced technological capabilities and strategic location, further solidifies our company’s position as a logistics supplier of choice for the world’s top brands.”
KOBC says it secures liquidity for shipping companies and contributes to the development of the Korean national economy by strengthening its shipping competitiveness. Its partnership with CJ Logistics was established to deepen economic ties between America and South Korea, increase trade opportunities for the two countries, and create economic growth and jobs for Americans.
“ExxonMobil is uniquely placed to understand the biggest opportunities in improving energy supply chains, from more accurate sales and operations planning, increased agility in field operations, effective management of enormous transportation networks and adapting quickly to complex regulatory environments,” John Sicard, Kinaxis CEO, said in a release.
Specifically, Kinaxis and ExxonMobil said they will focus on a supply and demand planning solution for the complicated fuel commodities market which has no industry-wide standard and which relies heavily on spreadsheets and other manual methods. The solution will enable integrated refinery-to-customer planning with timely data for the most accurate supply/demand planning, balancing and signaling.
The benefits of that approach could include automated data visibility, improved inventory management and terminal replenishment, and enhanced supply scenario planning that are expected to enable arbitrage opportunities and decrease supply costs.
And in the chemicals and lubricants space, the companies are developing an advanced planning solution that provides manufacturing and logistics constraints management coupled with scenario modelling and evaluation.
“Last year, we brought together all ExxonMobil supply chain activities and expertise into one centralized organization, creating one of the largest supply chain operations in the world, and through this identified critical solution gaps to enable our businesses to capture additional value,” said Staale Gjervik, supply chain president, ExxonMobil Global Services Company. “Collaborating with Kinaxis, a leading supply chain technology provider, is instrumental in providing solutions for a large and complex business like ours.”
However, that trend is counterbalanced by economic uncertainty driven by geopolitics, which is prompting many companies to diversity their supply chains, Dun & Bradstreet said in its “Q4 2024 Global Business Optimism Insights” report, which was based on research conducted during the third quarter.
“While overall global business optimism has increased and inflation has abated, it’s important to recognize that geopolitics contribute to economic uncertainty,” Neeraj Sahai, president of Dun & Bradstreet International, said in a release. “Industry-specific regulatory risks and more stringent data requirements have emerged as the top concerns among a third of respondents. To mitigate these risks, businesses are considering diversifying their supply chains and markets to manage regulatory risk.”
According to the report, nearly four in five businesses are expressing increased optimism in domestic and export orders, capital expenditures, and financial risk due to a combination of easing financial pressures, shifts in monetary policies, robust regulatory frameworks, and higher participation in sustainability initiatives.
U.S. businesses recorded a nearly 9% rise in optimism, aided by falling inflation and expectations of further rate cuts. Similarly, business optimism in the U.K. and Spain showed notable recoveries as their respective central banks initiated monetary easing, rising by 13% and 9%, respectively. Emerging economies, such as Argentina and India, saw jumps in optimism levels due to declining inflation and increased domestic demand respectively.
"Businesses are increasingly confident as borrowing costs decline, boosting optimism for higher sales, stronger exports, and reduced financial risks," Arun Singh, Global Chief Economist at Dun & Bradstreet, said. "This confidence is driving capital investments, with easing supply chain pressures supporting growth in the year's final quarter."
The firms’ “GEP Global Supply Chain Volatility Index” tracks demand conditions, shortages, transportation costs, inventories, and backlogs based on a monthly survey of 27,000 businesses.
The rise in underutilized vendor capacity was driven by a deterioration in global demand. Factory purchasing activity was at its weakest in the year-to-date, with procurement trends in all major continents worsening in September and signaling gloomier prospects for economies heading into Q4, the report said.
According to the report, the slowing economy was seen across the major regions:
North America factory purchasing activity deteriorates more quickly in September, with demand at its weakest year-to-date, signaling a quickly slowing U.S. economy
Factory procurement activity in China fell for a third straight month, and devastation from Typhoon Yagi hit vendors feeding Southeast Asian markets like Vietnam
Europe's industrial recession deepens, leading to an even larger increase in supplier spare capacity
"September is the fourth straight month of declining demand and the third month running that the world's supply chains have spare capacity, as manufacturing becomes an increasing drag on the major economies," Jagadish Turimella, president of GEP, said in a release. "With the potential of a widening war in the Middle East impacting oil, and the possibility of more tariffs and trade barriers in the new year, manufacturers should prioritize agility and resilience in their procurement and supply chains."
The third-party logistics service provider (3PL) Total Distribution Inc. (TDI) is continuing to grow through acquisitions, announcing today that it has bought REO Processing & REO Logistics.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but REO Processing & REO Logistics is headquartered in West Virginia with 10 facilities across West Virginia in Parkersburg, Vienna, Huntington, Kenova, and Nitro as well as in Atlanta, GA.
Headquartered in Canton, Ohio, TDI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Peoples Services Inc. (PSI). The combined TDI and PSI businesses operate over 12 million square feet of contract and public warehouse space located in 65 facilities in eight states including Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.
As an asset-based 3PL, the PSI network offers a range of specialized material handling and storage services including many value-added activities such as drumming, milling, tolling, packaging, kitting, inventory management, transloading, cross docking, transportation, and brokerage services.
This latest move follows a series of other acquisitions, as TDI bought D+S Distribution, Inc. and Integrated Logistics Services Inc. in May, and Swafford Trucking, Inc., Swafford Warehousing, Inc., and Swafford Transportation, Inc. in February. The company also bought Presidential Express Trucking, Inc. and Presidential Express Warehousing & Distribution, Inc. in 2023.