Kindred AI
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
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Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Kindred (Kindred Systems) was a San Francisco-based warehouse robotics company founded in 2014 that built AI-powered piece-picking robots for fulfilling e-commerce orders in warehouses. It had about 90 staff (45 engineers), raised $44 million including a $28 million Series B in 2017 led by Tencent, and was acquired by Ocado in November 2020 for $262 million in cash to accelerate the British grocer's automated grocery fulfillment.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
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03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Kindred Systems was founded in 2014 to build AI-powered picking robots for warehouses.
- Series B
The company raised a $28 million Series B led by Tencent, backed by Eclipse Ventures, First Round Capital, GV and Data Collective, bringing total funding to $44 million.
- Acquired by Ocado
Ocado acquired Kindred Systems for $262 million in cash in November 2020, alongside robotic arm maker Haddington Dynamics, to accelerate delivery and innovation in automated grocery fulfilment.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
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Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
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