RightHand Robotics raises $23 million to grow its ecommerce solution in Europe and Japan

RightHand Robotics today announced the close of a $23 million funding round to bring its services to customers in Europe and Japan and expand sales, engineering, and customer service divisions of the company.

The RightPick platform combines proprietary machine learning-driven tech with commercially available cameras and robotic arms to complete orders by picking and sorting items in ecommerce fulfillment centers.

Currently, those items are limited to 2 kilograms, but the funding will enable advances that make it possible to lift heavier items, like laundry detergent or gallon milk jugs, a company spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email.

The funding will also be used to grow the RightHand Robotics product line further into industries like pharmaceuticals, groceries, and cosmetics.

As part of the funding news, former Kiva Systems cofounder and CEO Mick Mountz will join the company’s board of directors. Kiva Systems was acquired by Amazon in 2012 and is now Amazon Robotics.

RightHand Robotics was founded in May 2014 by winners of the DARPA Autonomous Robotic Manipulation challenge team, whose members hail from the Harvard Biorobotics Lab, GRAB Lab at Yale University, and MIT.

The $23 million round was led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from GV (formerly Google Ventures), Dream Incubator, Matrix Partners, and Playground Global.

To date, RightHand Robotics has raised $34.2 million, a company spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email.

RightHand Robotics is based in Somerville, Massachusetts near Boston and has 40 employees.