Recently, Jiangsu Think Tank Intelligent Technology Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as: Think Tank Intelligent) has completed A round of financing of tens of millions of yuan, which is jointly invested by Jinsha Capital under Shagang Investment Company and Shazhou Science and Technology Innovation Fund under Zhangjiagang Innovation Investment Group. This round of financing will be used to invest in product research and development, market expansion and team expansion to further increase product penetration and market share.

Founded in 2017, think Tank Intelligent focuses on the subdivision circuit of pallet warehousing robots and provides “pallet to person” intelligent warehousing solutions for global customers. Since 2019, Think Tank Intelligence has launched its core product “ZK-R series four-way shuttle”, and will expand its manufacturing base in 2021, stepping into the mass production stage of four-way shuttle.

Around this core product, Think Tank Intelligence launched the Flying Shuttle ® tray efficient storage system, equipped with self-developed high-speed elevator, flexible conveyor line and other hardware equipment, and coupled with IWMS, IWCS, RMS and other software systems, to meet the needs of customers for efficient and intensive storage.

As the key application of intelligent storage, storage robot plays an important role in improving the utilization rate of storage space and the efficiency of storage operation. In recent years, with the push of market demand, policy encouragement and technology development, the intelligent warehousing industry has developed rapidly in our country, and also promoted the rapid development of warehousing robots industry.

According to the data of CMR(China Mobile Robot) Industry Alliance, the market scale of warehousing robot industry in China reached 13.32 billion yuan in 2021; The annual CAGR(compound growth rate) from 2017 to 2021 is 46.3%. The industry is still in the early stage of development, and the market penetration needs to be further improved.

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But at the same time, there are signs that the industry as a whole will gradually enter a stable development stage, and the industry concentration is gradually improving. On the one hand, according to the First Leopard Research Institute, the warehouse robot market size compound annual growth will slow down in 2021-2026, CAGR of 27.2%. On the other hand, according to the calculation of GGII(High-tech Robot Industry Research Institute), CR8(the total market share of top 8 enterprises) of Chinese mobile robot industry (including AGV, AMR, unmanned forklift truck, material container robot and composite robot) in 2022 is 45.05%, which is 1.61% higher than that in 2021.

In addition, the competition pattern of some subdivided circuits has gradually solidified, which has formed a high barrier to entry. Take the tank robot subdivision circuit as an example. GGII data show that in 2022, Chinese container robot CR4(the total market share of the top 4 enterprises) is 76.92%.

In this case, think tank Intelligence will focus on the pallet storage robot track. CAI Chuanyu, founder and CEO of Think Tank Intelligence, said that the main reason for the company to select this segment track is that compared with the material tank or pure forklift segment, pallet storage robot started late in China, is still in the early stage of development, the industry concentration is low, and the market capacity and future growth room is still large.

He said: “The mainstream mobile robot manufacturers in the market are mainly focused on the container robot, or ‘shelf to person’ intelligent storage solutions. This is due to the rapid development of the e-commerce field, the efficiency of large-scale dismantling and picking requirements are high. But in the stereo library, the storage container in addition to the material box, tray accounted for a higher proportion, even more than half. In contrast, the pallet storage robot circuit is still in the ‘do addition’ stage. In particular, the pallet type four-way shuttle has been applied in China since 2013. At present, there are about 20 enterprises participating in the competition in the domestic market, and the product form has not been completely finalized, and the industry pattern has not been fixed.”

GGII data shows that according to the total statistics of four-way shuttle vehicles in the material box and pallet category, the shipment of four-way shuttle vehicles in 2021 in China is 7,757 units, with a year-on-year growth of 30.37%. It is expected that the shipment will exceed 23,000 units in 2025, reaching an annual compound growth rate of 30%. At the same time, at the policy level, eight departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, released the “14th Five-Year Plan for Intelligent Manufacturing Development” in 2021, explicitly encouraging the R&D and innovation of intelligent logistics equipment, such as intelligent multi-layer and multi-direction shuttle vehicles and intelligent large three-dimensional warehouses.

Think Tank Intelligence aims to replace some of the traditional products gradually, from high to low, according to the tray storage location. Its current core product, pallet-type RGV(Rail Guided Vehicle) – intelligent four-way shuttle, focuses on the height range of more than 8 meters, and the main alternative object is stacker. “Compared to stackers, smart four-way shuttles are more flexible, flexible, cheaper, easier to maintain and capable of achieving higher storage density,” CAI said.