Amid layoffs, Pittsburgh robotics company Seegrid raised $30M

Against the backdrop of reported layoffs, Pittsburgh-based autonomous mobile robotics company Seegrid has raised $30 million of a planned $75 million round.

The new funding will be put toward product development, CEO Jim Rock told Technical.ly via email. Rock said Seegrid’s investors for this round so far are its “current major investors” — Giant Eagle, the company’s majority owner, and G2VP, the Silicon Valley VC that led Seegrid’s Series B.

The funding comes at the same time as Seegrid laid off about 90 employees, as reported earlier this week and confirmed by Rock on Friday afternoon.

“Seegrid reduced its workforce by approximately 90 positions across all departments,” Rock said. “While regrettable, this decision was made in light of the global economic slowdown and to better position Seegrid, the leader in the mobile robot market, for long-term growth. The investors, Board of Directors and executive leadership team continue to have confidence in the company’s vision, team and growth opportunity.”

Seegrid, which has offices near the Pittsburgh International Airport, isn’t alone in making cuts. Amid a period of economic downturn, Technical.ly has reported on layoffs at other venture-backed companies, including fellow Pittsburgh robotics company Argo AI, which let go of 150 staffers earlier this summer. So far in 2022, at least 32,000 tech workers have been laid off, per Crunchbase.

Rock did not comment on Seegrid’s current employee count, nor whether the company plans to go public in the future. Seegrid counted 280 employees at the time of its October 2020 acquisition of Philly’s Box Robotics.

In spring 2022, Seegrid ranked among the top five most innovative robotics companies in the world, according to Fast Company. The publication cited Seegrid’s introduction of a rent-a-robot business model as the primary reason for its high ranking.