Son of Masayoshi
Alessandro Di Ciommo | NurPhoto | Getty Images
LONDON – Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank has acquired 40% of the Norwegian deposit automation company AutoStore for $ 2.8 billion.
The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Monday and later confirmed by AutoStore in an update on its website.
The transaction is worth AutoStore, which was incorporated in 1996 for $ 7.7 billion.
SoftBank, which has made a number of investments in e-commerce and robotics in recent years, is buying the stake in US private equity group Thomas H Lee Partners and Swedish venture capital firm EQT.
“We see AutoStore as a fundamental technology that enables fast and cost-effective logistics for companies around the world,” SoftBank CEO and founder Masayoshi Son said in a statement.
He added: “We look forward to working with AutoStore to expand aggressively into end markets and geographies.”
Founded by Ingvar Hognaland and headquartered in a village near Bergen called Nedre Vats, AutoStore has developed what it calls “cube storage automation”, which allows robots to maximize storage space in warehouses.
It is said to have deployed 20,000 robots in 600 sites in 35 countries and that its technology allows customers to either store inventory four times in the same space or all existing inventory in 25% of the space. AutoStore’s customers include US electronics retailer Best Buy, Swedish telecommunications company Siemens and British food chain Asda.
Karl Johan Lier, president and CEO of AutoStore, said in a statement that SoftBank support will help it grow in the Asia-Pacific region.
Investing in the future
The son of SoftBank believes that cars will surpass people in the next 30 years.
Through the SoftBank Vision Fund, the billionaire has pumped large amounts of capital into companies such as Arm, Improbable and Brain Corp as part of an effort to ensure that SoftBank has a financial package in companies working on next-generation technologies.
SoftBank has also acquired shares in several logistics companies that can improve supply chains for e-commerce giants, such as Alibaba, which SoftBank also owns.
For example, SoftBank supported the US warehouse robotics group Berkshire Gray in 2019. The logistics automation system provider announced in February that it would go public through a merger with the empty-checking company Revolution Acceleration Acquisition Corp. values the combined company at $ 2.7 billion.
Nathan Benaich, a venture capitalist with a focus on artificial intelligence, told CNBC that the pandemic was clearly a “boon” for logistics and warehousing companies because they are the backbone of online commerce. ”.
“AutoStore, among colleagues such as Berkshire Gray, Ocado Robotics and 6 River Systems, are successful stores for over 10-20 years overnight in robotics,” he said. “They have quietly developed the capabilities and footprint of the warehouse over time and are now aggressively capturing the growing demand of today’s customers.”