Insider Brief
- Cytronic raised $13.5 million in seed funding to build robotic fulfillment centers for direct-to-consumer ecommerce brands.
- The round was led by Slow Ventures, with participation from Geek Ventures, Failup Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Spacecadet Ventures, Weekend Fund, Mana Ventures, Rice Capital and Script Capital.
- Cytronic operates fulfillment as a service, combining proven robotic hardware with proprietary software to store, pick, pack and ship orders from automated facilities in Chicago and, soon, Dallas.
Cytronic has announced raising $13.5 million in seed funding to build robotic fulfillment centers for direct-to-consumer ecommerce brands.
According to the company, the round was led by Slow Ventures, with participation from Geek Ventures, Failup Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Spacecadet Ventures, Weekend Fund, Mana Ventures, Rice Capital and Script Capital. Individual backers include Adam Nash and Gokul Rajaram.
Cytronic operates fulfillment as a service. Brands connect their ecommerce systems, send inventory to Cytronic and use the company’s automated facilities to store, pick, pack and ship orders. The new funding will support continued development of Cytronic’s software and operating system and help bring additional automated facilities online, according to the company.
Cytronic markets itself as an alternative for independent brands that want faster and lower-cost fulfillment without relying more heavily on marketplaces or building warehouse infrastructure themselves.
The company indicated its first facility is operating in Chicago, with a Dallas site expected to open soon. Its system combines existing robotic hardware with proprietary software. Rather than requiring brands to buy robots or build warehouses, the company runs the fulfillment network itself.
The company is focused on direct-to-consumer small-parcel fulfillment. That narrower scope is meant to make automation cheaper and easier to deploy by limiting the types of products and workflows the system needs to handle.
Cytronic pointed out that it it buys proven robotic arms, storage systems and other hardware, then builds the software layer that coordinates the warehouse. That includes orchestration software, an operating system and workflows for moving orders through the facility.
The company was founded by logistics entrepreneur Kevin Gibbon and Scott Moen. Gibbon previously built Shyp and Airhouse, two companies focused on shipping and fulfillment operations. Cytronic noted that experience shaped its view that fulfillment often becomes more expensive and complicated as ecommerce brands grow.
Image credit: Cytronic
