Karl Aignema, an early pioneer in the self-driving car industry who recently stepped down as president and CEO of Hyundai-backed Motional, is returning to the AV and robotics field. Vecna Robotics, a Massachusetts-based startup that uses robots to handle materials in warehouses, has hired Ignema as CEO.
The robotics startup, which develops autonomous pallet movers such as forklifts and software to help businesses manage their operations, announced Wednesday that it has raised an additional $14.5 million in funding from existing investors. . The company said the funding will be used to accelerate automation technology and improve products for the automotive, general manufacturing and bulk warehousing industries. Vecna has raised $179 million to date.
Vecna, which is backed by Tiger Global Management, Proficio Capital Partners, Blackhorn Ventures, and Highland Capital Partners, to name a few, raised $50 million in 2020. Two years later, the company raised $65 million in an extended Series C round. It raised $40 million in new funding that included equity and debt earlier this summer.
Image credit:Vecna Robotics
Ignema, who has dedicated most of his career to autonomy, told TechCrunch that he feels there are many opportunities for Vecna to expand commercially. He saw promise in the startup early on. Mr. Ignema was an angel investor in Vecna in 2020.
Ignema likened automated logistics to the current state of robotaxis. “There is a huge market opportunity, but very little market penetration,” he said. “What I'm most excited about is the combination of Vecna's best-in-class technology and the long-term tailwinds around material handling and automation, particularly from increased labor supply and labor costs.”
In September, Ignema surprised industry observers by leaving Motional, a self-driving technology company that had been aiming to commercialize robotaxi services. The former CEO has had a long career in the AV space, first in academia and then as a founder. Ignema directed MIT's Robotic Mobility Group Laboratory for 10 years. During that time, he met Daniel Theobald, an MIT alumnus and founder of Vecna Robotics.
Ignema and Emilio Frazzoli founded the startup NuTonomy in 2013. Four years later, the company was acquired by Delphi (now known as Aptiv) for $450 million. Ignema served as the top leader when Hyundai and Aptiv formed a $4 billion joint venture called Motional in 2019 to commercialize self-driving cars.
While Motional made progress, it faced an existential threat earlier this year when the other half of the joint venture, Aptiv, announced it would no longer allocate capital to the effort. Hyundai stepped forward and agreed to invest an additional $1 billion in Motional in May. However, the company has undergone restructuring, including cutting approximately 550 jobs, suspending sales activities, and postponing plans to launch robotaxi services using the next-generation Hyundai Ioniq 5 robotaxi until 2026.
Ignema said he still believes in what Motional is aiming for. “I actually think Motional is in a good position,” he said. Although he acknowledged that commercialization of AV technology will still take time, he believed Motional was poised to be part of a rapidly growing industry.
“If anyone thinks there's only one winner in this field, that's crazy,” he says.