Addverb Technologies builds robotics and automation solutions for factories and warehouses (Representative Image)
When one thinks of a warehouse, a godown type imagery immediately appears with minimal lighting and not as much tech and automation. However, Addverb Technologies has been on a journey to change that very perception.
The company that has just got Reliance Retail on board as their largest shareholder, saw its inception in 2016 when 5 former Asian Paints executives set out to transform the functioning of supply chain operations.
What does Addverb Technologies do?
The Noida based startup is an intra-logistics automation solution provider. It builds robotics and automation solutions for factories and warehouses. The idea is to automate laborious tasks related to the storage and movement of goods in controlled environments.
It leverages artificial intelligence, machine learning, automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS), shuttles, IoT along with their in-house software solutions to improve the performance and accuracy of warehouse and factory operations.
The company has a manufacturing facility in Noida with the capacity to make 50,000 different types of robots a year.
Addverb offers robots under concepts such as pick to light, pick by voice, pallet shuttle and yard management.
Under pick to light, picking zone light beams when a product is ready to be moved. Pick by voice feature allows a factory operator to use voice commands to confirm what has been picked and dispatched. The feature is language-agnostic and can understand up to 14 Indian languages, including Hindi and English, assisting pickers of diverse demographics.
Pallet shuttle is a battery-operated system to move products between aisles, while yard management involves identifying the location of a product in a yard.
Also Read: Robotics startup Addverb Technologies in advance talks to raise $ 80-120 million
Whose brainchild is this?
Like mentioned earlier, the company has been founded by 5 former Asian Paint executives- Sangeet Kumar, Prateek Jain, Amit Kumar, Satish Shukla and Bir Singh.
Addverb’s clientele includes companies like Amazon, Flipkart, ITC, Coca-Cola and Jio Mart.
In fact, co-founder and CEO Sangeet Kumar in an interview with YourStory recounted how bagging JioMart as a client was a big milestone for them. Now as Reliance becomes a stakeholder, the company is looking forward to leveraging 5G, battery technology through new energy initiatives, advances in material sciences (carbon fibre) to deliver more advanced and affordable robots.
The company has offices in Australia, Singapore and Netherlands and plans to set up an innovation lab and invest in research and development wings.
Revenue model
Addverb usually earns revenue via physical sales and channel sales (in some regions). It has a pan-India presence with 100+ clients. The company expects to close the current financial year with 100 per cent growth in revenue at Rs 400 crore compared to Rs 200 crore it posted a year ago.
“At present, 80 per cent of our revenue comes from India but this mix is expected to change to 50-50 between India and overseas business in the next 4-5 years. Our revenues from software contribute 15 per cent of the total, which is expected to grow significantly,” Kumar told PTI.
The road ahead
“In the next 5-6 years, we want to be a billion-dollar company in revenue. We do everything in India- design, manufacture and deliver across the world,” apprised the CEO.
The company is looking forward to expanding its manufacturing capacity to cater to the global demand as now they have a global presence. By the end of 2022, they are looking forward to expanding across the globe, especially in South East Asia, the US, the Netherlands, and Australia.
In the domestic market, they are ready to foray into new industries such as automobiles. In terms of products, they want to be the single provider of AMR, pallet shuttles, carton shuttles, and sorting robots in the Indian market, and position themselves as a global robotics company.
(Disclaimer: MoneyControl is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary)
