Pittsburgh-based Gather AI, a provider of AI-powered autonomous inventory management for warehouses, is acquiring rival Ware.

Ware deploys autonomous, self-flying drones, combined with machine learning and AI, inside warehouses to automate their inventory tracking.

Gather AI uses commodity hardware and specialises in supply chain AI to decrease the cost of inventory, improve productivity and boost revenue.

With this acquisition, Gather AI says it is now the market leader in the space with 25 customers, more than any other autonomous inventory management company.

The global warehouse market is expected to see a 7.7% CAGR and reach $1.26tn by 2030. Driving this growth are the global restructuring of manufacturing and logistics and a transition to online commerce. This shift is causing a rapid overhaul of the supply chain with 71% of warehouses reporting this is driving a change in the way they manage their inventory.

“Understanding inventory levels is critical for creating accurate forecasts and managing in this environment,” said Gather AI CEO Sankalp Arora. “We offer real-time inventory visibility to our customers through our AI software, which turns commodity drones into autonomous data-gathering machines. Acquiring Ware’s business accelerates our growth further, bringing our proven solution to more warehouses, and enabling our customers to leverage data insights from across our growing network.”

The AI software enables drones to fly autonomously through warehouses to photograph inventory stored in pallet locations. The AI reads bar codes, text and other information in the images and automatically compares it with what’s in the warehouse management system (WMS). The warehouse manager can view inventory data in real time from a web dashboard and easily view the warehouse.

Gather AI has seen an eightfold revenue growth in the past year. Customers have seen a reduction in inventory counting staff from six to one, finding $1m in lost inventory, reducing full facility scans from 90 to 2.5 days, and boosting revenue with innovation and differentiation. Results such as these helped Gather AI raise a $10m series A last year.

“We recognised the need for autonomous inventory management to optimise inventory accuracy and minimise labour expenditure,” said Jeff Keene, DPI Specialty Foods COO,and former Ware client. “After assessing the proven technology and witnessing the tangible benefits experienced by Gather AI customers, we enthusiastically agreed to implement their solution in three of our warehouses. We are excited to initiate the deployment and leverage the advantages it offers.”

Ware and Gather AI said they were the only companies in the world that developed AI software to perform autonomous inventory management using off-the-shelf drones.

“We share Gather AI’s philosophy that robots are becoming a commodity, and our value is in the data we provide to our customers,” said Ware CEO Hank Skorny. “We wanted to join forces with the other leader to quickly scale the market opportunity. Gather AI stood out as the best match because of their customer centricity, technology maturity and our shared vision.”

Gather AI was founded in 2018 by Carnegie Mellon University alumni Sankalp Arora, Daniel Maturana and Geetesh Dubey. Its technology is deployed in warehouses across third-party logistics, retail distribution, manufacturing, food and beverage, and health and wellness at companies including Barrett Distribution, AAFES and Gordon Food Services. The company is backed by Tribeca Venture Partners, Xplorer Capital, Dundee Venture Capital, Expa, Bling Capital, XRC Ventures and 99 Tartans.

Ware works with large 3PLs and global brands to operate their facilities more efficiently, improving their accuracy and saving money. It was founded by North Carolina State University aerospace engineering alumni Joe Moster, who previously worked at autonomous drone start-ups and on Uber’s autonomous vehicle efforts. Moving forward, Ware will operate under the combined Gather AI name, brand and web site.