XPO Logistics Set to Acquire 5,000 Robots From Peter Thiel-Backed Startup

XPO logistics robot arm
XPO Logistics

XPO Logistics Inc. will buy 5,000 warehouse robots from a Singapore startup backed by billionaire Peter Thiel as part of a deal that makes XPO the only logistics provider to use the technology in North America, the U.K. and eight other European countries.

XPO Logistics Inc. is No. 1 on the Transport Topics list of the Top 50 Logistics Companies in North America and No. 3 on the Transport Topics list of the Top 100 largest for-hire carriers in North America.

The GreyOrange robots — flattish, rectangular units that move about the floor much like an extra-large Roomba vacuum cleaner — can roll under storage racks weighing as much as 3,500 pounds, lift them and carry them to warehouse workers who pull off items to be shipped. Butler, as the robot is called, helps workers minimize walk time and manual errors, according to XPO.

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XPO, which provides trucking and warehouse services, has been investing heavily in automation to keep apace with explosive growth from e-commerce customers. With the help of acquisitions, Brad Jacobs, CEO of XPO, has driven up sales to more than $15 billion last year from $175 million when he purchased the company in 2011.

“We’ve developed our logistics technology to integrate the latest intelligent automation and adapt it at lightning speed,” Jacobs said in a statement Oct. 3. “This allows us to dramatically improve efficiency, fulfillment time and costs.”

GreyOrange, in business since 2011, raised $140 million in September in a round of funding led by Mithril Capital Management, which was co-founded by Thiel and Ajay Royan. The sale will help the startup expand in the United States, where it just established a headquarters in Atlanta and is building a manufacturing site that will be completed next year