Reliance Industries, led by Mukesh Ambani, has purchased a majority stake in Addverb, a robotics business, for $132 million
- ByStartupStory | January 19, 2022
As the conglomerate builds up automation across its industries, from e-commerce to new energy, billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd is buying an Indian robotics startup.
Sangeet Kumar, the startup’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said in a phone interview on Tuesday that Reliance paid $132 million for a controlling share in Addverb Technologies, which utilises robots to make e-commerce warehouses and energy generation more efficient.
As rivalry from rivals such as Amazon.com Inc. grows in India’s expanding e-commerce business, Ambani, Asia’s richest man, is investing in technology. Addverb already utilises robotic conveyors, semi-automated systems, and pick-by-voice software in dozens of warehouses across Reliance’s empire, including online grocer JioMart, apparel retailer Ajio, and internet pharmacy Netmeds.
“Reliance has big aspirations to automate its digital warehouses,” Kumar, 41, said. “In the next two years, they intend to extend warehouses to hundreds of locations, and at that scale, only robotic systems can be effective.”
Addverb, a five-year-old startup based in the Noida neighbourhood of New Delhi, creates and instals robotic systems. As a result, it is one of just a few businesses in the world that works on all aspects of robotics, from hardware to software to deployment.
Addverb’s robots assist in the packing of Reliance’s oil and gas storage facilities, and the company created the refinery’s automation in Jamnagar, Western India. It is implementing solutions at Reliance’s massive new solar factory, also in Jamnagar, where the company aims to invest over $80 billion in green energy.
Kumar claims that the two’s most significant collaboration is yet to come. Addverb and Reliance intend to develop “next-generation” 5G robotics and battery systems, as well as utilising carbon fibre to create affordable, smart robots.
Kumar, a graduate of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, worked for Asian Paints Ltd, the country’s largest paint manufacturer, setting up vast plants using imported robots before launching his own company with four coworkers. Addverb presently has 550 engineers on staff.
Its sales for the fiscal year ending in March is estimated to be over $61 million, and its customers include Amazon, PepsiCo Inc, Coca-Cola Co, and Walmart Inc-owned Flipkart, as well as other European and Asian manufacturers and retailers. Robots that boost storage density on warehouse racks, sorting robots, self-driving autos, and robo shuttles are among the company’s offerings.
According to Kumar, Addverb is searching land in the Delhi area in preparation for the construction of the world’s largest robot-making facility. It also intends to expand faster in Europe and the United States. Singapore, the Netherlands, and Australia have previously established subsidiaries for the company.
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