Verne Robotics

What do they actually do

Verne Robotics sells a compact, bimanual robot arm and the AI control software that runs it. The system is pitched as a drop‑in alternative to long integration projects for back‑of‑house tasks like kitting, repackaging, and packaging fragile vials Verne site YC profile.

Deployments are designed to be quick: the robot is installed into an existing workspace, a human teleoperates or demonstrates the task for roughly 30–60 minutes, and Verne’s software turns that data into a reusable skill so the robot can run autonomously. Customers can start with no‑capex pilots billed by the hour or buy the hardware and pay a usage fee Work With Us demo video thesis. Verne reports at least one production biotech customer using the system for delicate vial packaging and is hiring across engineering as it moves from pilots to repeatable deployments YC profile Jobs.

Who are their target customer(s)

• Production manager at a biotech company handling delicate vials: Manual handling to avoid breakage/contamination is slow and error‑prone; traditional automation takes months to integrate and can mishandle fragile parts Verne site YC profile.
• Operations lead at a meal‑kit or food‑prep facility: High labor turnover and variable pick/pack quality; needs a system that can be taught quickly without a long engineering project YC profile.
• Warehouse/fulfillment manager for consumer goods or small‑item logistics: Seasonal spikes and SKU variety create labor bottlenecks and errors; full industrial systems are slow and capital‑intensive to adopt Verne site YC profile.
• Process manager at a contract manufacturer with frequent changeovers: Traditional robots require lengthy programming and fixtures per SKU; needs machines that can be re‑taught quickly from short demonstrations thesis demo video.
• Head of automation or finance at an SMB with limited capex: Long procurement/ROI cycles block automation; prefers short pilots or pay‑by‑the‑hour models to prove value before buying Work With Us.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder‑led outreach into biotech, meal‑kit, CMO, and logistics sites; run on‑site hourly pilots where Verne trains a working skill from <1 hour of demonstrations and turns the pilot into a reference case Work With Us demo video YC profile.
• First 50: Stand up a small field deployments team, codify install playbooks and standard pilot vs. buy+usage pricing, and run targeted outbound using early case studies; begin partnerships with local integrators/OEMs to package installs Jobs Work With Us.
• First 100: Publish vertical playbooks (biotech vial packaging, meal‑kit pick/pack, small‑item fulfillment) and a turnkey pay‑by‑the‑hour pilot; add remote monitoring and standardized kits so multi‑site rollouts need minimal field hours.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Relevant segments in 2024 include warehouse automation (~$26.5B), food robotics (~$2.3B), collaborative robots (~$2.1B), and pharma robots (~$0.2B), a rough, overlapping aggregate near ~$31B GMI warehouse Food robotics Cobots Pharma robots.

Bottom-up calculation:

Illustrative SAM: assume 5,000 relevant sites (biotech packaging, meal‑kit, SMB fulfillment) × 2 robots/site × ~$40k/robot/year in usage/software revenue ≈ ~$400M annual SAM. Each 1% of the ~$31B aggregate ≈ ~$310M in revenue potential [sources above].

Assumptions:

• 5,000 sites actively running small‑payload kitting/packaging tasks suitable for drop‑in robots
• Average of 2 robots per site for back‑of‑house stations
• ~$40k/robot/year blended usage/software revenue under pay‑by‑the‑hour or buy+usage models

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Universal Robots: Maker of the UR series cobot arms widely used for packaging and light pick/pack; many SMBs pair a UR arm with off‑the‑shelf grippers and an integrator rather than a turnkey system UR packaging.
• Soft Robotics (mGrip): Sells soft, enveloping grippers and controllers for gentle handling in food, cosmetics, and pharma; often combined with standard arms as an alternative to learned‑policy systems mGrip.
• Covariant: AI‑first picking systems for warehouses and kitting, emphasizing generalization and fleet learning; overlaps on fulfillment use cases.
• RightHand Robotics: End‑to‑end piece‑picking solutions (gripper + software + cell) for e‑commerce, pharmacy, and kitting; positioned as easy to integrate for high‑mix picking.
• Automata (EVA): Low‑cost, small 6‑axis arm marketed for labs and small manufacturers with quick programming; some SMBs choose EVA‑style arms plus tooling over turnkey systems overview.