Pickle Robot Company, which makes robots for unloading trucks at warehouses, has raised a $26M Series A led by Ranpak, JS Capital, Soros Capital, and others (Brian Heater/TechCrunch)

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Over a dozen job openings indicate TikTok plans to build fulfillment centers in the US as it looks to build an “international e-commerce fulfillment system”  —  TikTok is planning to build its own product fulfillment centers in the U.S., creating an e-commerce supply chain system …

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Ambi Robotics, which is developing AI-powered robots for warehouses, raised $32M led by Tiger Global and Bow Capital, bringing its total funding to $67M  —  Ambi Robotics, a startup developing supply chain automation hardware, today announced that it raised $32 million in additional funding led …

Brianna Wessling / The Robot Report:
AMP Robotics, which creates robotics systems that use AI to sort recyclable materials, raised a $91M Series C, bringing its total raised to $165.5M  —  AMP Robotics, a company creating robots that can organize recycling, brought in $91 million in corporate equity in a Series C funding round.

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Massachussets-based warehouse robotics startup Locus raised a $117M Series F at a “close to” $2B valuation, following a $150M Series E in February 2021  —  The last few years have been a major accelerator for the robotics industry at large, but warehouse robotics may be the biggest winner of all.

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Amazon acquires Cloostermans, a Belgian company specializing in tech to move and stack heavy palettes and robotics used to package products for customer orders  —  Amazon has made a string of startup acquisitions over the years to build out its robotics business; now, the e-commerce leviathan …

Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Bright Machines, which automates manufacturing tasks with AI and robotics, raised a $100M Series B and $32M in debt after pulling its SPAC deal in December 2021  —  In May of last year, Bright Machines announced plans to embrace the SPAC craze with a merger deal that valued the Bay Area-based manufacturing firm at $1.6 billion.