Ocado acquiring 6 River Systems from Shopify
6 River Systems’ Chuck AMR now has new accessories and a new “High Priority Chuck” feature. | Source: 6 River Systems
Ocado Group is acquiring autonomous mobile robot maker 6 River Systems from Shopify. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
6 River Systems develops the Chuck autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for the logistics and non-grocery retail sectors. Based in Massachusetts, 6 River Systems was founded in 2015 by Rylan Hamilton, Jerome Dubois and Chris Cacioppo, who have deep knowledge of robotics, software and fulfillment operations. Dubios and Hamilton are former employees of Kiva Systems, the well-known AGV maker acquired by Amazon in 2012 for $775 million.
“We are delighted to welcome new colleagues to the Ocado family. 6 River Systems brings exciting new IP and possibilities to the wider Ocado technology estate, as well as valuable commercial and R&D expertise in non-grocery retail segments,” said James Matthews, CEO of Ocado Technology. “Chuck robots are currently deployed in over 100 warehouses worldwide, with more than 70 customers. We’re looking forward to supporting 6 River Systems to build on these and new relationships in the years to come.”
Shopify acquired 6 River Systems in September 2019 for $450 million. Shopify, the Canadian e-commerce giant, paid 60% in cash and 40% in shares for the deal. At the time, Shopify said the acquisition “is a critical step to accelerate its growth.”
Once source told The Robot Report “the whole [6 River Systems] robotics team was axed and sold to Ocado.” The source continued, “Shopify sold 2/3 of Shopify Logistics to Flexport and 6RS to Ocado. The Shopify Logistics leadership was a disaster.”
This appears to be part of a larger round of layoffs at Shopify. It said on Thursday that it would let go 20% of its workforce in a second round of layoffs and sold its logistics arm to freight forwarder Flexport, sending its U.S.-listed shares up 16% in premarket trading. Shopify also reported better-than-expected results for the first quarter, as more merchants used its online tools and targeting services to attract customers tackling high inflation.
The story is developing and will be updated as needed.
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