Vimaan emerges from stealth, announces $25 million in funding

Vimaan, a computer vision company for warehouse inventory management, has emerged from stealth to announce its solutions to the warehousing and logistics industry, along with $25 million in seed and Series A financing from top investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Wing VC and Neotribe Ventures.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Vimaan states its solution automates and digitizes inventory capture, tracking and management across the warehouse, including receiving, put-away and picking, storage and pack and ship.

“The process of collecting inventory data is a major bottleneck within warehouse management. While there have been some technological advancements in robotics and warehouse automation over the past decade, the Vimaan platform is the first of its kind to offer wall to wall coverage of warehouse inventory,” stated S. K. (“KG”) Ganapathi, Founder and CEO of Vimaan. “Warehouse managers constantly face competing objectives of keeping inventory tracking labor costs low while simultaneously keeping inventory accuracy high. Vimaan has worked hand in hand with our blue-chip customers to design solutions that strike at the heart of data tracking challenges in the warehouse. The Vimaan platform enables a warehouse manager to realize 100% inventory accuracy and visibility with minimal labor oversight. This in turn results not only in labor savings, but also in reduced inventory wastage, fewer claims and chargebacks, reduced reverse logistics costs and overall improvement in quality.”

The Vimaan platform comprises computer vision-based technologies—including cameras, a sensor suite and computer vision algorithms—to “see”, interpret, and digitally reconstruct inventory according to the warehouse’s requirements, the company explained. The solution is simultaneously capable of barcode and RFID reading. The data is presented to the customer in a software application that directly interfaces with the customer’s WMS and provides actionable insights.

For the past 24 months, Vimaan has been working with leading 3PLs and brand owners to perfect its inventory tracking solutions, the company added. These customers, who are in full production with Vimaan solutions, have realized significant benefits in productivity and cost savings, according to Vimaan.

“Inefficiencies within the warehouse and logistics industries have spotlighted huge opportunities for technological advancement and investment,” said Greg Papadopoulos, Ph.D., Venture Partner at NEA. “We’ve been enthusiastically tracking the warehouse robotics and automation industry for a while and are thrilled to expand our portfolio in the space by partnering with Vimaan to apply revolutionary computer vision technology to transform inventory processes and empower warehouse managers across the industry.”