Gather AI (Gather), a provider of AI-powered autonomous inventory management solutions for warehouses using commodity hardware, announces today that it is acquiring the business of Ware, another large player in the market. With this acquisition, Gather AI is now the market leader in the space with 25 customers, more than any other autonomous inventory management company, and the technical platform best able to meet accelerating customer demand.
The global warehouse market is expected to grow at 7.7% CAGR and reach USD 1.26 trillion by 2030. Driving this growth are the global restructuring of manufacturing and logistics and a transition to online commerce. This strategic shift is causing a rapid overhaul of the supply chain with 71% percent of warehouses reporting that this is driving a change in the way they manage their inventory. To keep up with this restructuring, operators are accelerating their digital transformation.
“Understanding inventory levels is critical for creating accurate forecasts and managing in this environment. We offer real-time inventory visibility to our customers through our AI software which turns commodity drones into autonomous data-gathering machines,” Gather CEO Sankalp Arora said. “Acquiring Ware’s business accelerates our growth further, bringing our proven solution to more warehouses, and enabling our customers to leverage data insights from across our growing network.”
Gather is transforming warehouse operations. With its solution, AI software enables drones to fly autonomously through warehouses to photograph inventory stored in pallet locations. AI reads bar codes, text, and other information in the images and automatically compares it with what’s in the warehouse management system (WMS). The warehouse manager can view inventory data in real time from a web dashboard and easily view their warehouse.
Gather has seen an 8x revenue growth in the last year. Customers have seen a tremendous benefit from the solution including a reduction in inventory counting staff from six to one, finding $1 million in lost inventory, reducing full facility scans from 90 days to 2.5 days, and boosting revenue with innovation and differentiation. Results like these helped Gather raise a $10 million Series A last year.
“We recognized the need for an autonomous inventory management solution to optimize inventory accuracy and minimize labor expenditure,” expressed Jeff Keene, DPI Specialty Foods COO, and former Ware client. “After assessing the proven technology and witnessing the tangible benefits experienced by Gather customers, we enthusiastically agreed to implement their solution in three of our warehouses. We are excited to initiate the deployment and leverage the advantages it offers.”
Ware and Gather AI were the only companies in the world that developed AI software to perform autonomous inventory management using off-the-shelf drones. “We share Gather AI’s philosophy that robots are becoming a commodity, and our value is in the data we provide to our customers,” said Ware CEO Hank Skorny. “We wanted to join forces with the other leader to quickly scale the market opportunity. Gather stood out as the best match because of their customer centricity, technology maturity, and our shared vision.”
Customers will be integrated into the Gather platform in the coming weeks with the support of the combined Ware and Gather AI teams.
To learn more about Gather AI’s solution, join their upcoming webinar on July 19 at 2 pm ET/11 am PT to see a product demo, view a case study, visit the website, or contact sales@gather.ai.
About Gather AI
Pittsburgh-based Gather AI is the market leader in supply chain AI to decrease the cost of inventory, improve productivity, and boost revenue. Gather AI was founded in 2018 by Carnegie Mellon University alumni Sankalp Arora, Ph.D., Daniel Maturana, Ph.D., and Geetesh Dubey. The Gather AI solution is currently deployed in warehouses across third-party logistics, retail distribution, manufacturing, food & beverage, and health & wellness at companies including Barrett Distribution, AAFES, Gordon Food Services, and more. Gather AI was named to the 2023 CB Insights Retail Tech 100. Gather AI is backed by Tribeca Venture Partners, Xplorer Capital, Dundee Venture Capital, Expa, Bling Capital, XRC Ventures, and 99 Tartans.
To learn more about Gather AI, visit https://gather.ai and on YouTube and LinkedIn.
About Ware
Ware deploys autonomous, self-flying drones, combined with machine learning and AI, inside warehouses to automate their inventory tracking. Designed to solve some of the warehousing industry’s most pressing issues, Ware works with the world’s largest 3PLs and global brands to operate their facilities more efficiently—improving their accuracy and saving money. Ware was founded by North Carolina State University Aerospace Engineering alumni, Joe Moster, who previously worked at autonomous drone startups and on Uber’s autonomous vehicle efforts. Moving forward, Ware will operate under the combined Gather AI name, brand, and website, https://gather.ai.
