Vecna Robotics Taps Autonomous Vehicle Pioneer Karl Iagnemma as CEO, Secures Additional Funding to Drive Growth

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vecna Robotics, the leader in flexible material handling automation solutions, today announced it has brought on Karl Iagnemma as CEO and closed $14.5MM in additional funding from existing investors. Proceeds of the funding round are earmarked to accelerate technology and product enhancements to address the automation needs of operators in automotive, general manufacturing, and high-volume warehousing.

Iagnemma is a robotics expert and entrepreneur with a distinguished career blending academic research and industry leadership. He co-founded and served as CEO of autonomous vehicle technology company nuTonomy, which was later acquired by Aptiv in 2017 for $450MM. Under Iagnemma’s leadership, nuTonomy launched the world’s first public robotaxi pilots in Singapore. Iagnemma was also founding CEO of Motional, a $4B robotaxi joint venture between automaker Hyundai Motor Group and Tier 1 supplier Aptiv.

Prior to his industry career, Iagnemma directed the Robotic Mobility Group research laboratory at MIT, where he authored publications related to robotics and artificial intelligence that have been cited more than 20,000 times. Iagnemma is also an inventor with more than 50 issued or pending patents in robotics and autonomous vehicles. While at MIT, Iagnemma met Daniel Theobald, a fellow MIT alumnus and founder of Vecna Robotics. In 2020, Iagnemma made an angel investment in Vecna Robotics based on the company’s technology leadership and the potential for robotics to revolutionize material handling.

“Automation in logistics today is similar to the current state of robotaxis, in that there is a massive market opportunity but little market penetration,” asserts Iagnemma. “I join Vecna Robotics at an inflection point in the material handling market, where operators are poised to adopt automation at scale,” he adds. “Vecna is uniquely positioned to shape the market with state-of-the-art technology and products that are easy to purchase, deploy, and operate reliably across many different workflows.”

On the heels of the company’s recent announcement of CaseFlow^TM, a novel approach to case picking automation based on optimized human-robot orchestration, Iagnemma brings world-class knowledge of autonomous technology to further accelerate technology and product innovation at Vecna.

“We are excited to see a skilled technologist and experienced leader like Karl take the helm at Vecna Robotics, guiding the company into its next chapter and further strengthening its leadership in the material handling robotics sector,” said Griffin Schroeder, Partner at Tiger Global.

“Karl Iagnemma combines exceptional robotics expertise with hands-on leadership, making him the perfect fit to drive innovation and propel Vecna Robotics into its next phase of growth,” said Nick Solaro, General Partner at Drive Capital. “We are confident that his extensive network will be instrumental in forging key strategic partnerships, securing the company's long-term leadership in the market.”

To learn more about Vecna Robotics, visit www.vecnarobotics.com.

About Vecna Robotics

Vecna Robotics is an award-winning flexible, intelligent material handling automation company with solutions engineered for seamless work between autonomous mobile robots (AMR) and the labor, equipment, facilities, and systems that make business go. Our self-driving warehouse robots and end-to-end workflow solutions like CaseFlow^TM –– powered by Vecna Robotics Pivotal™ software and 24/7/365 Command Center –– help distribution, warehousing, and manufacturing organizations automate their most critical tasks, maximize throughput and scale operations fast. For more information, visit www.vecnarobotics.com. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.