Chinese warehouse robotics provider Geek+ has launched its Americas operations with a new office in San Diego, California, that will focus on robotic warehouse and smart factory projects, the firm said Tuesday.

To guide that expansion, the company also said it has hired former Mattel and amazon.com inc. executive Mark Messina as chief operating officer (COO) and Rick DeFiesta—a veteran of Honeywell, Daifuku Wynright, and Siemens Dematic—as business development and partnership director. Kevin Guo, formerly head of service at Geek+, leads the Americas team as General Manager.

The expansion follows the company's pledge to expand international sales of its artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled logistics robots after landing a $150 million investment from the private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC in 2018.

Geek+ calls itself the "the largest logistics robotics solutions provider globally," pointing to its 200 projects and 10,000 robots delivered worldwide. The company has more than 800 employees including 400 research and development engineers in offices across China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Germany, and the UK. The U.S. now joins that list.