Veteran Ventures Capital Leads $6.95 Million Investment in Aformic
Veteran Ventures Capital has led a $6.95 million investment in Aformic, backing the robotics company's expansion of autonomous mobile robots across North American manufacturing and defense markets. The seed round is Aformic's first institutional investment.
- VVC led Aformic's $6.95 million seed investment.
- The round is Aformic's first institutional investment.
- Aformic builds autonomous forklifts and underride platforms.
- Its Qursor platform manages robot fleets and material movement.
- The company plans to expand across North American manufacturing and defense markets.
Funding targets factory and warehouse logistics
VVC led the round through its Fund II, with participation from ff Venture Capital, Red Beard Ventures, Mana Ventures, and other investors. According to the company announcement, the transactions strengthen Aformic's capitalization and support expansion across North American manufacturing and defense industrial markets.
Headquartered in Duncan, South Carolina, Aformic designs and deploys customized autonomous mobile robots for factories and distribution centers. Its products include underride platforms and autonomous forklifts that move materials and supply production lines.
Aformic says its robots use lidar-based mapping to navigate with one centimeter accuracy. Its Qursor fleet-management platform coordinates the robots' movements, helping maintain the flow of materials through factories and warehouses.
Robots are designed to reduce material-handling work
The company is focused on a labor challenge it says is affecting the rebuilding of America's industrial base: a shortage of skilled workers. Aformic's robots can carry up to 2,000 lbs and are intended to move parts by forklift, cart, or other manual methods, allowing workers to focus on production tasks.
The announcement cites studies showing that between 15%-50% of factory labor hours goes to moving parts between production steps rather than adding value. Aformic says production changes can be made through software and robot integration with plant systems, instead of rebuilding a plant floor.
Aformic originated as a spinout from AIUT, which the announcement describes as a global industrial automation and robotics group with more than 30 years of engineering experience. The company also has an engineering and production center in Gliwice, Poland.
VVC sees opportunity in manufacturing and defense
VVC said its investment follows a study of the global reindustrialization wave, with countries rebuilding industrial capacity inside existing factories. The announcement says manufacturing productivity in the US has stalled for more than a decade, up to 1.9M manufacturing jobs may go unfilled through 2033, and the US Army is spending $18B to modernize and automate World War II-era depots.
Aformic says it already has multiple robots operating at various Fortune 500 companies and Tier 1 defense OEMs. VVC founder and Managing Partner Derren Burrell, who now serves on Aformic's Board of Directors, said, "We believe Physical AI will transform American manufacturing, and Aformic has what it takes to lead that shift: proven robots, proprietary software, and deep industrial expertise."
Aformic CEO Michal Fiuk said the investment will accelerate the company's North American expansion. For users, the funding is intended to bring Aformic's robots and Qursor platform to more manufacturers and depots, particularly across the defense industrial base.
