Myrmex

Myrmex Inc. operates as a robotics and automation company, specializing in solutions for the online grocery and retail sectors. Established in February 2015 by Ioannis Kanellos and Orestis Fainekos, the firm was incorporated in Delaware, USA, and headquartered in Fremont, California, with a significant research and development presence in Athens, Greece. The founders embarked on their journey with the goal of automating the final steps of the online order fulfillment process.

The company's core offering was a fully automated, unmanned click-and-collect system. This product was designed to manage the entire last-mile pickup process, including order storage, retrieval, and delivery to the customer's vehicle seconds after their arrival at a pickup point. The system uses autonomous mobile robots and intelligent asset handling to manage ambient, chilled, and frozen goods, while also handling replenishment and customer returns. Myrmex's business model targeted European and US online grocery retailers, providing them with the robotic infrastructure to streamline curbside pickup and improve customer satisfaction.

Myrmex's trajectory includes several key milestones. After being initially self-funded, the company secured its first venture capital investment in June 2015 from Odyssey Venture Partners, a Greek fund supported by the European Investment Fund. This funding propelled product development, leading to the first release of its patent-pending solution in May 2016 and the submission of three US patents. A significant development occurred in October 2020 when Ocado Group, a major UK-based technology and online grocery solution provider, acquired a minority stake in Myrmex. This partnership tasked Myrmex with developing a bespoke system to automate the loading of customer order totes onto dispatch frames, a solution later unveiled as 'Automated Frameload' (AFL). The collaboration culminated in Ocado Group's full acquisition of Myrmex in May 2022 for approximately €10.2 million. Following the acquisition, the Myrmex team of over 30 engineers and automation experts was integrated into Ocado Technology to accelerate the global rollout of AFL and develop further automation for the Ocado Smart Platform.

Keywords: Myrmex, Ocado Group, click-and-collect automation, grocery robotics, last-mile delivery, autonomous mobile robots, automated fulfillment, curbside pickup technology, Ioannis Kanellos, material handling robotics, e-grocery solutions, retail automation, automated frameload, AFL, intelligent asset handling, Ocado Smart Platform, robotic order pickup, supply chain automation, warehouse robotics, unmanned delivery system, Orestis Fainekos, George Katiniotis