Croatian artifical intelligence (AI) startup Gideon Brothers said it has raised $31mn Series A investment in a round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), the venture and growth arm of Koch Industries.

The company will use the funds to accelerate the development and commercialisation of its AI and 3D vision-based autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), it said in a press release on June 8.

The company will also expand its manufacturing, sales, marketing and customer success operations across key markets in the European Union and US by opening offices in Munich and Boston.

Gideon Brothers produces flexible automation of horizontal and vertical material handling processes for logistics, warehousing, manufacturing and retail businesses.

DB Schenker, Prologis Ventures and Rite-Hite also participated in the investment round. Several of Gideon Brothers’ existing shareholders, including Taavet Hinrikus (co-founder of TransferWise), Pentland Ventures, Peaksjah, HCVC (Hardware Club), Ivan Topčić, Nenad Bakić and Luca Ascani, also participated.

“The pandemic has greatly accelerated the adoption of smart automation, and we are ready to meet the unprecedented market demand. The best way to do it is by marrying our proprietary solutions with the largest, most demanding customers out there. Our strategic partners have real challenges that our robots are already solving, and, with us, they’re seizing the incredible opportunity right now to effect robotic-powered change to some of the world’s most innovative organisations,” Matija Kopic, CEO and co-founder of Gideon Brothers, said in the press release.

The company will expand its board of directors, adding Annant Patel, director of KDT, and Xavier Garijo, member of the board of DB Schenker.