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Tech Topics In This Article: VC funding, Atlanta startup, robotics startups
Imagine spending nearly a quarter of your work day just waiting around.
That is the reality for many in the trucking industry. At loading docks across the country, truck drivers lose 23% of their workday idling as they wait for forklift operators to load or unload their trailers. And the idle time is one thing: Safety issues at loading docks is another. Loading docks are the site for over 25% of all industrial accidents, making it an increasingly dangerous place to work on a daily basis.
Slip Robotics, an Atlanta-based robots-as-a-service startup, is looking to make the transportation and supply chain industries safer through its automated truck-loading technology. The startup’s SlipBots can load and unload any truck in just five minutes — a process that typically takes up to 60 minutes — without any infrastructure modifications needed.
The startup reports its technology enables employees to increase dock throughput by 6x, reduce forklift traffic by 8x, and increase safety at the loading dock. The founding team — assembled in 2020 by former Tesla, Cummins, GE, and Waymo engineers — manufactures its bots in Atlanta.
That has caught the attention of local investors like Tech Square Ventures, EVE Atlas, and Overline, as well as national brands like John Deere, GE Appliances, Valeo, and Nissan. Now, Bay Area investors have taken note of the robotics startup. The Atlanta startup announced today it has raised a $28 million Series B led by DCVC, a deep tech VC based out of Silicon Valley. Previous investors Eve Atlas, Tech Square Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Overline, and Pathbreaker Ventures also joined the round.
Funding For Slip Robotics
Slip Robotics is one of only a handful of Atlanta startups that have raised Series B rounds this year, as venture capital dollars have been more slowly deployed than they were in 2020 and 2021. To date, the robotics startup has raised $45 million in outside funding.
The $28 million in new funding will go towards expanding Slip Robotics’ team and “enhance” the products offered.
For DCVC, investing in Slip Robotics is about working to modernize the loading and unloading process that plagues the supply chain process.
“Slip Robotics is driving a level of change in the supply chain industry not seen since the containerization of sea freight,” said James Hardiman, General Partner at DCVC, in a press statement. “Their solutions are not just theoretical—they work, and they deliver value and scale today.”
Photos provided by Slip Robotics
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