Autonomous technology is taking over the business world as investors are keen on tech-driven startups. Korean startup B Garage, a warehouse inventory management service developer that uses autonomous flying drones, has attracted an investment of 8 billion won or USD 6.7 million. SoftBank Ventures announced that it had invested a 4.1 billion won in B Garage. IMM Investments and Bon Angels were other investors in the Series A round.

B Garage was founded by Kim Young-joon, a graduate of Stanford University’s Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) Lab. The company’s warehouse inventory management solution simultaneously provides monitoring software and drone hardware. It automates the task of several workers walking through a large warehouse space, climbing high shelves, and counting inventory information. B Garage’s drones use camera vision technology to autonomously fly without separate beacons, markers, and mapping so that they can be operated without any changes to an existing structure.

Company to expand global business

B Garage is currently collaborating with the top 10 logistics and warehouse companies in the United States ahead of commercial service in 2022. “As a pioneer in the commercial autonomous flying drone market, we will provide integrated warehouse management services for global customers,” said Kim Young-joon, CEO of B Garage.

Jin Yun-jeong, managing director of SoftBank Ventures, said, “As the demand for logistics warehouses is rapidly increasing due to the growth of the e-commerce market accelerated by the Coronavirus, problems such as shortage of manpower and inefficiency due to frequent errors in the existing logistics and warehouse industry are getting more attention. We expect B Garage to solve these challenges and lead logistics innovation through warehouse inventory management automation technology.”