Logibot bags €1.4M to build a ‘temp agency for robots’

Logibot, the Belgian software platform that adds an intelligent layer to humanlike robots in logistics, has raised €1.4 million in a round led by BeamBerlin, the startup studio of German family group BEUMER (BG). RDY Ventures, PMV and the BAN Business Angels network also joined the round.  European warehouses are struggling to find staff. Sorting and distribution centres have trouble filling physically demanding roles, often at locations far from the labour market.  Temp staff cost up to 40 per cent more than a permanent hire, turnover stays structurally high, and repeated training weighs heavily on operating costs. Across Europe, some 2.5 million people in logistics still do manual sorting parcels doesn’t call for ten fingers or two arms. Logibot picks the simplest solution on the market and adds its AI layer on top. The platform covers the full journey, from analysing existing flows to spot automation opportunities, validating performance in a digital twin before anything gets deployed physically, training the robots for the specific task, and integrating them into ongoing operations, through to continuous monitoring with remote teleoperation.  The software is complemented by multiple cameras that Logibot calibrates for each application. If a manufacturer disappears or no longer meets requirements, the software simply keeps running. That way, the client never gets tied to a single supplier. According to Louis Verspreeuwen, CEO and co-founder of Logibot, directors at large logistics groups run into four hurdles when they want to robotise their warehouse:  “They don’t know where to start, they don’t want to be locked into a contract with a single robot supplier, they’re looking for solutions that fit existing operations without turning everything upside down, and they want models with variable, predictable costs, without tying up capital in heavy equipment.” Logibot now counts seven employees. Louis Verspreeuwen (CEO) brings 12 years of experience in logistics and international trade, including stints in China and Hong Kong. Co-founder Salimzhan Gafurov (CTO) holds two PhDs in robotics and AI. He led a team of 110 robotics engineers at one of the world’s largest e-commerce players, then worked as CTO at Verne, Europe’s first robotaxi company, backed by Bugatti and Rimac. Part of the team comes from AI racing, including A2RL. The company’s early clients include logistics providers with between 8,000 and 21,000 employees, along with one of the largest logistics and postal groups in the Nordics, where a robot is currently running in Denmark. “Our mission is to become the temp agency for robots: a robot as a temp worker, ready whenever the warehouse needs him, without a contract that ties him to a single supplier,” concludes Louis Verspreeuwen. The capital funds the rollout of the first robots at clients and the assembly of a second robot, whose sensors are being mounted in Zellik, in Flemish Brabant.