European Automation Recruitment Specialist James Disney produces a bi-weekly newsletter – The Automation Insider! As a well-networked automation recruitment specialist, his goal is to consistently explore the latest funding, collaborations, product updates, and industry news from cutting-edge warehouse automation, mobile robotics, and material handling companies across the US, Europe, and APAC, and deliver it straight to you.

Last week, we explored investment predictions and investment activity from the first half of 2025. This week, he runs through the latest developments across the market: collaborations, funding, acquisitions and tech updates.

 

 

Spotlight on: Filics

Who are they?

Filics is a Munich-based startup specialising in flat transport autonomous robots tailored for intralogistics. Founded by Technical University of Munich (TUM) alumni in 2019, the company has quickly gained traction with its innovative platform capable of carrying up to 1.2 tonnes on flexible load carriers.

What do they do?

Filics builds autonomous intralogistics robots designed to:

  • Shuttle heavy pallets and materials
  • Operate safely alongside human workers
  • Adapt to varied logistics environments and payload types

Its fleet enables dynamic, scalable automation in factories and warehouses, ideal for industries ranging from automotive to e-commerce.

What makes them stand out in the market?

  • Heavy-duty capacity: Robots can carry up to 1.2 t—meeting challenging internal transport demands.
  • Modular & flexible: Designed to drive under a range of carriers, allowing easy adaptation to existing workflows.
  • Strategic backing: Investors include Sandwater, Alven, F-LOG Ventures, Bayern Kapital, and the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund—highlighting deep industry confidence.

The team also recently received a €13.5 M Series A to scale technology and operations.

 

warehouse automation intralogistics

 

Market updates:

DHL is set to pour $747 Million into their UK and Ireland robotics strategy.

Fulfilment and courier management solution THG Fulfill has launched its cutting-edge AutoStore installation at its Omega Warehouse in Warrington.

LuminX‘s edge-deployed vision language model takes a step closer as warehouse automation start-up secures $5.5m seed funding.

Boston Dynamics Stretch robot has now been deployed by DHL (7 units in the US), doubling trailer unloading rates and prompting DHL to agree to purchase 1,000 more Stretch units, alongside UPS, FedEx, and Walmart exploring similar deployments.

Ambi Robotics AmbiStack system debuted for automated truck unloading, trained via a video-game-style simulator.

Vecna Robotics  recently highlighted its growing suite of self-driving forklifts and autonomous pallet and tugger trucks.

Didero acquired Covalent AI in a move to integrate procurement and warehouse systems, enabling end-to-end automation in supply chains.

Locus Robotics announced that its AMRs have now surpassed 5 billion picks, marking a major milestone in widespread adoption.

Element Logic® acquired US-based systems integrator ABCO Systems LLC.

Amazon Fulfillment Technologies & Robotics has hit a major milestone by deploying its 1 millionth robot worldwide and rolling out DeepFleet, a new generative AI model that boosts fleet travel efficiency by around 10%, aiming to accelerate delivery speeds and reduce costs.

Transsystem SA and Hai Robotics launched a strategic partnership in Central & Eastern Europe, integrating Hai’s ASRS tech with Transsystem’s intralogistics design to deliver end-to-end warehouse automation solutions.

AutoStore™ introduced two innovations: a Multi‑Temperature Solution for cold/frozen storage and CarouselAI, an AI‑powered piece‑picking system co-developed with Berkshire Grey.

A new market report for Asia‑Pacific projects the region’s warehouse automation market will nearly double, growing from $14.8 billion in 2025 to $32.9 billion by 2030, highlighting strong uptake of AGVs and shuttle-based systems across China, Japan, India and beyond.

Goodman Group announced aggressive investment in “robot‑run” logistics facilities, forming global partnerships to redevelop prime sites with fully automated, dark warehouses over the coming decade.

AutoStore’s modular storage robots fleet now exceeds 1,600 systems deployed, spanning 55+ countries.

 

 

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