Verity raises USD 32 million to accelerate rollout of autonomous inventory drones

The company, which provides an inventory tracking solution powered by fully autonomous indoor drones, today announced the closing of a Series B funding round. Verity has been named a TOP 100 Swiss Startup and Scale-Up.

Verity provides a system that allows users to fully automate the manual scanning process in inventory management, a prime use case for automation, using self-flying warehouse drones. Supply chain automation has become a top priority for third-party logistics providers (3PLs), retailers, and manufacturers to address business-critical logistics challenges. Verity's system helps curb the costs of manpower, human error, and energy resources while increasing productivity and sales.

Today, the Zurich-based company announced that it secured USD 32 million in a Series B funding round led by A.P. Moller Holding with participation from Exor Ventures and existing and new investors. The financial boost will allow the startup to scale operations to address the growing backlog of deployments with systems already installed in 30 sites across thirteen countries on three continents, the company explained. Verity's customers include DSV, Ingka, Maersk, and Samsung SDS.

"The completion of our Series B funding round is an important nod to the value our system provides to clients, and it demonstrates investor confidence in our industry-leading solution and team," said Verity founder and CEO, Raffaello D'Andrea. "We are especially pleased to welcome A.P. Moller Holding as a key investor in Verity, a global influencer committed to supporting companies that are delivering supply chain excellence and a positive impact on the environment."

A pioneer in autonomous systems, D'Andrea also co-founded Kiva Systems, which was acquired by Amazon in 2012 and rebranded as Amazon Robotics. He co-founded Verity with Markus Hehn and Markus Waibel in 2014, exploring various commercial applications for autonomous indoor drones, focusing on their use in entertainment context. The company's drone technology was used in concert tours of artists like Metallica and Céline Dion, as well as in performances by Circe du Soleil. D'Andrea, who is also a professor at the ETH's Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, won the 2016 IEEE Robotics and Automation Award.

Verity ranked among the TOP 100 Swiss Startups in 2018 and was named a TOP 100 Scale-Up in 2020 and 2021.


Verity co-founder and CEO Raffaello D'Andrea