UK warehouse automation start-up Dexory has secured $19m in series A funding, including from logistics and container shipping company Maersk.

Addressing the need for improved space use and increased efficiencies in warehouses around the world, Dexory combines analytics with autonomous robots capable of capturing image and sensor data from across a warehouse. This combination provides visibility across warehouses of any size, as well as connecting warehouses across the global supply chain through its digital platform, DexoryView.

In the past few years, the combination of a boom in ecommerce, the global Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine has sent shocks through global supply chains. While the systems that underpin cross-border production and trade have many interconnected moving parts – procurement, manufacturing, packaging, shipping, energy, tracking and distribution – this has been felt particularly acutely in warehouses, the core of the supply chain, where goods are stored, sorted and distributed.

“For those operating warehouses, ensuring 100% fulfilment in time, all the time is crucial to meeting the demands of the modern consumer,” said Dexory CEO Andrei Danescu. “A critical component to achieving this is high stock accuracy, but staff shortages, manual processes and the speed demanded by customers means that critical decisions across the supply chain are currently being taken blindly. Technology that is autonomous, real time, intuitive and integrated can have a transformative effect on the everyday efficiency, productivity and accuracy of a warehouse, and form an integral part of revamping businesses supply chain strategies.”

Rising costs, low supply of warehouse units combined with huge demand for goods, and a shortage of labour are putting pressure on the sector to improve space use and increase efficiencies.

Dexory, which is already integrated in distribution companies such as Maersk and Menzies Aviation, provides a platform which offers 360-degree visibility into warehouses. Manual processes often still dominate in these operations and global companies can have up to as many as 500 warehouse management systems (WMSs) running across thousands of their globally distributed warehouses at any one time. This means expensive manual audits often take place on an infrequent basis, finding lost inventory takes days due to a lack of interoperability between WMSs, and a unified global view is impossible to achieve.

DexoryView can perform a full warehouse scan in a matter of hours, around 100 times faster than humans, giving an immediate view of the core hub in their supply chain. This gives enhanced inventory visibility, with DexoryView’s dashboard tracking detailed location of goods, allowing for the quick identification and location of items, accurate information on stock levels and locations, and better decision-making in warehouse operations.

And it can also be used as a digital twin replica of a warehouse to help not only manage, but get the most out of warehouse performance, allowing for the software to optimise, simulate and predict future scenarios. All this frees up human workers to focus on more complex activities, leading to improved productivity, better resource allocation and the ability to handle higher order volumes efficiently.

The funding round was led by European VC firm Atomico, with participation from existing investors Lakestar, Kindred, Capnamic and Maersk Growth, the investment arm of Maersk. As part of this investment, Atomico partner Ben Blume will join Dexory’s board of directors.

“For an operation as complex and sophisticated as running a modern warehouse, the current lack of an automated way to capture data about the physical space is a major pain point,” said Blume. “We’re hugely excited by the promise, and market traction, of Dexory’s technology with leading global logistics companies like Maersk and Menzies Aviation. Through creating a digital replica of the warehouse with their advanced robotic data capture technology, they are able to deploy a platform that is not only seamless and intuitive, but provides powerful and actionable insights too.”

The money will be used for international expansion in key markets such as the USA, and central and northern Europe, with aims to double Dexory’s workforce by the end of the year to support unit deployment functions and increased production. The funding will also be used to continue developing forecasting and simulation technology, as well as accelerating the production of its automated robots in its facility in the UK.

In doing so, Dexory hopes to continue to embed accurate and real-time data into its customers’ supply chains.

Dexory was founded in 2015 by Andrei Danescu, Oana Jinga and Adrian Negoita, and is based in the UK. The founders are school friends from Romania, who moved to the UK a decade ago with experience accumulated across engineering and tech roles at Formula One, Google and IBM.