PHINXT Robotics secures £2m to enable warehouse robotics automation

Funding into PHINXT Robotics was led by Sure Valley Ventures with participation from Ada Ventures, Heartfelt and Atlas Ventures.

The company will use the funds to grow its engineering and sales teams and begin expansion into mainland Europe. Globally, the mobile robot market is projected to reach $16bn, with 2.4 million mobile robots operating by 2027.

In a statement, Yanwen Chen, co-founder and CEO, PHINXT Robotics, said: “At PHINXT, our mission is to revolutionise the logistics industry with our cloud-based platform that seamlessly integrates any type of robot, enabling them to collaborate and coordinate in a shared space without the need for a centralised server.”

PHINXT’s edge AI software solution is said to enable robotics automation at any scale. Its cloud-based platform has been designed to streamline robotic deployments and support a monthly subscription model.

Traditionally, adopting robotics in warehouses has been hindered by setup costs (often exceeding £500,000) and the complexity of on-site deployment. Consequently, over 90 per cent of warehouses remain fully manual.

PHINXT’s proprietary technology coordinates robots at the edge, simplifying robotic deployments by a factor of ten.

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To date, PHINXT has secured several contracts, particularly with a major UK grocery retailer following a successful pilot programme, which is expected to scale into a multi-year contract. PHINXT’s long-term vision is to extend beyond warehouse robotics automation to encompass delivery drones and autonomous vehicles.

“As a specialist AI investor, we believe this is one of the strongest AI propositions to come out of the UK this year,” said Brian Kinane, founding partner at Sure Valley Ventures. “PHIXNT has a clear advantage in terms of cost, simplicity and flexibility, and with their…proprietary technology, are extremely well-positioned to disrupt this market globally.”

Yanwen, who has two PhDs specialising in computer science and synchronisation communications for robotics, developed the algorithm that allows robots to self-orchestrate safely, even when they lose connections to central networks. She co-founded the company with Quirino Zagarese, PhD, an expert in distributed systems, to collaborate on building a scalable architecture and product.

PHIXNT, a graduate of the Female Foundry Visionaries AI Incubator, previously raised £600k from Fuel Ventures, Amar Shah (co-founder of Wayve and founder of Dhyan Ventures), Atlas, APX, Prequel Ventures, Ventures Together syndicate and Alma Angels.