Slip Robotics Secures $28 Million to Unlock 5‑Minute Truck‑Loading Bots

Meet SlipBots: The 5‑Minute Miracle of Truck Loading

Picture this: a loading dock buzzing with forklifts and the steady hum of engines. It usually takes up to an hour to shove a truck full of pallets into a trailer. While the driver idles, the warehouse crew cranks their time clocks. Enter Slip Robotics—the company that turned the slow dance into a lightning‑fast sprint.

How SlipBots Got Their Groove

• Founded in 2020 by Chris Smith, Dennis Siedlak, and John Jakomin, Slip Robotics leverages a blend of cutting‑edge software and massive floor‑like robots.
• Each SlipBot is a 10‑palette platform that can haul up to 12,000 pounds.
• Three SlipBots—about 36,000 pounds of payload—fit snugly inside a single truck trailer.

Cracking the Code Behind the Speed

Chris Smith drew inspiration from his time at Cummins, Tesla, and Volley Automation—a robotics start‑up that pioneered automated car parks. He famously mused:

“What if I built a floor that moves?”

This idea turned freight staging on the ground into a fluid, motorized dance. Instead of waiting for forklifts, the whole load moves on robotic platforms, racing straight into the trailer in five minutes.

From Prototype to Real‑World Rollout

• Three years of tinkering, testing, and proving the concept.
• Commercial service launched in 2023.
• Now, hundreds of SlipBots are in action at over 25 sites—from 20,000 sq‑ft warehouses to sprawling 2‑million‑sq‑ft complexes.

Who’s Using SlipBots?

Big names like John Deere, GE Appliances, Valeo, and Nissan trust SlipBots to keep their operations humming.

How the Subscription Works

Customers pay a subscription license fee that covers:

• Software updates
• Hardware service
• Maintenance and repairs

And here’s a neat naming convention: “Three, Three, Three”—meaning a customer always has:

• Three bots on the dock
• Three bots moving to the target trailer
• Three bots ready at the destination.

Jordan Sanders, Chief Commercial Officer, noted that this tiered strategy is key to keeping the load lines clear and the drivers happy.

So while the old grinding routine might still be around, SlipBots are championing a future where freight moves at the speed of light—and a lot less waiting.

Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda

Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They’re here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $600+ before prices rise.

Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda

Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They’re here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise.

Slip Robotics Raises a Sweet $28 M in Series B

In a market full of robot buzzwords and empty promises, Slip Robotics just landed a fresh chunk of cash to keep shaking the tech world.

Who’s Backing the Smart‑Bots?

• DCVC led the round, bringing home the bag.
• Old friends like Eve Atlas, Tech Square Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Overline, and Pathbreaker Ventures added their support.
• James Hardiman from DCVC has joined the board—now the team is officially “slippery genius.”
• Co‑founders and Thiago Olson of EVE Atlas are keeping the ship steady.

With the new money, Slip has crossed the $45 M mark and is gearing up for a big push: hiring more people, dropping more bots in real‑world operations, and polishing up their product.

Why Investors Are Going “Yeah!”

“People keep setting the bar so high, then the robots just waltz in like they’re non‑stop parties,” Nicholas Sanders says in a note to TechCrunch. “It’s like an ever‑present show of smoke‑and‑mirrors—dismissing legitimacy because of decades of hype that never delivered.”

Still, Slip didn’t chase the hype. They stayed low‑key, poured effort into their platform, and let the robots do the talking. The payoff? A team that swelled from fewer than a dozen to about fifty, ten commercial customers, and a few hundred bots already on the job.

Check the Numbers

If you’ve got more engineers than cars on the road, is that real business? Sanders jokes.

Cheers to a startup that’s humming, not chugging—robust enough to keep rolling that big $28 M funding into reality.