Logistics start-up raises US$3.8 million

The start-up Noyes Technologies has turned an automated shelving system into its business model and has now managed to convince backers.

Anyone who promises to deliver groceries within ten minutes has one thing in particular: time pressure. While the clock is ticking, so-called pickers pack up orders in warehouses. Noyes Technologies promises to do this fully automatically and faster. Now, the Munich-based startup has received $3.8 million in a seed round led by venture capitalist Vsquared Ventures, also based in Munich. Also on board are 468 Capital and Abacon Capital. The founders still hold 80 percent of their company.

"After decades of working at the intersection of logistics and innovation, we clearly saw the need for a forward-looking approach to automated warehousing," says Aaron Spiegelburg, who co-founded Noyes Technologies with Marco Prüglmeier. Both had previously worked at BMW for a long time. "We are the first supplier to provide our customers with intelligent, fully automated nano warehouses, which can be used to sustainably optimize processes and significantly reduce costs," Spiegelburg continues.

According to the company, customers will be able to install the rack in any room. The system is also expandable, offers different degrees of cooling and functions automatically. The module in which the required item is located always moves to the picker. The cost per system is currently in the mid-six-figure range, but customers only need up to a tenth of the space they do with other systems, Spiegelburg promises Gründerszene.

When the founders came up with the idea, they didn't initially have 10-minute delivery services in mind as customers. However, companies showed interest in Noyes Technologies' system on their own. Now the Munich-based company is in negotiations with two of them, they tell Gründerszene. Who the possible customers are still remains a trade secret, but Gorillas is not to be.