Addverb: Automation company making robots in India, for the world

At a time when AI and automation have become household names and several labour-intensive industries have turned towards these technologies to increase efficiencies and reduce costs, Addverb, a global robotics and automation company, is further expanding its prowess in the robotics space.             

The Addverb journey began at Asian Paints, where the co-founders Sangeet Kumar, Prateek Jain, Bir Singh, and Satish Kumar Shukla, worked on automating warehouses. Asian Paints was importing a lot of automation systems and robots from outside as they did not have good options available in India. That was when the opportunity dawned on them.

“India was not known for its hardware and robot manufacturing prowess, but we wanted to change that image by creating a startup that would be known for both its hardware and software,” says Sangeet Kumar, co-founder and CEO, Addverb.

The four quit their jobs at Asian Paints and founded Addverb in 2016 from a 400 sq. ft setup in Delhi’s Tagore Garden neighbourhood. 

“The team at Addverb did extensive research during the first year of operations, and the focus was more on finding the right product-market fit, creating a reliable supplier network, and designing the optimum automation solution by using the right mix of technology,” says Kumar.

Last year, Addverb received funding of $132 million from Reliance Industries, which is leading to the expansion of its operations. 

Recently, Addverb launched its second greenfield robot manufacturing factory known as Bot-Verse, spread over 15 acres in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The company claims the factory will generate more than 3,000 highly skilled jobs for the country’s youth.

Built at a cost of Rs 200 crore, the new unit is Addverb's second plant in Uttar Pradesh, set up within three years of the first facility known as Bot-Valley with a capacity to deliver 60,000 robots per year. Addverb also recently opened a Software Development Centre in Noida, which delivers value-added software for warehouse robotics and material-handling solutions to global clients.

Spread over 600,000 sq ft, Bot-Verse has a manufacturing capacity of 100,000 robots a year of different specifications and categories. According to the company, this is a unit where “robots will make robots.”

“This brand-new facility will establish Addverb as a global robot manufacturing giant and will also help develop a robotics ecosystem in India by delivering cutting-edge software and robust hardware systems to form a mix of innovative fixed and flexible automation solutions," says Kumar.

He added that Bot-Verse is India’s “one-of-a-kind” mobile robot manufacturing facility aimed at fulfilling the global demand for robots and will help the company expand its presence in Australia, Singapore, Dubai, the US, and Europe.

Addverb’s robotics and automation technologies find applications in various business entities ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small and medium-sized businesses. Addverb counts Asian Paints, Marico, Dabur, ITC, MRF, Unilever, Reliance, PepsiCo, Flipkart, DHL, Indian Oil, Johnson & Johnson, and Amazon among its customers who have benefited from its solutions and products.

Addverb said it has generated revenues of more than Rs 1,200 crore since its inception in 2016 and aims to become a billion-dollar revenue company by 2027, contributing to the goal of making UP a 1 trillion economy. Addverb will soon commission phase 2 and contribute further to the vision.       

Going forward, Addverb is primarily working on targeting the healthcare sector by the end of this financial year. “Among the initial offerings are haptic sensors acting as joysticks, empowering medical professionals to precisely control robots, and a collaborative robot (cobot) primarily designed for lower limb rehabilitation,” says Kumar.