Shopify acquisition
Emailed on September 13th, 2019 in The Friday Forward
Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) agreed to buy 6 River Systems, a Waltham, Mass.-based provider of warehouse fulfillment robotics, for $450 million in cash and stock (60/40 split).
The deal is meant to help Shopify build out and support its AI-powered fulfillment network which launched in June.
Warehouse fulfillment robotics sound familiar, right? The roboticists (robot doctors?) at 6 River Systems are the same ones who developed the Kiva robots used in Amazon warehouses.
The core product from 6 River Systems is its collaborative mobile robot called Chuck, which speeds up warehouse operations by helping on-site workers pick, sort, pack and replenish inventory. The system is operating in more than 20 warehouse facilities in the U.S., Canada and Europe, for customers including Lockheed Martin, CSAT Solutions, ACT Fulfillment, DHL, XPO Logistics, and Office Depot.
Fun Fact: Shopify IPO'd in 2015 at $1b valuation. Today it's worth $40b. Thats... pretty good.