Sojo Industries raises $40M to automate food manufacturing and grow operations
The Bristol-based robotics company uses both hardware and software to automate food and beverage manufacturing systems. The recent funding from investment firm S2G will be used to upgrade its software products, invest in marketing materials and advance its 'mobile manufacturing' technology, Barak Bar-Cohen, founder and CEO of Sojo, told Technical.ly.
'Having this vote of confidence from S2G, having this capital on the balance sheet, having smart, experienced partners alongside you,' Bar-Cohen said, 'feels like another major advantage to have at this point in time.'
Only four years old, the company has raised about $63 million to date and currently employs 100 people. The key to Sojo's growth has been staying focused on its original vision and model, which is building a tech company rooted in flexible manufacturing and product tracking technology, according to Bar-Cohen.
As it continues to grow, Sojo plans to build out a customer-centric team and further improve its technology, he said.
'Really staying an inch wide in who you are and what you do,' he said, 'but trying to develop a model that's a mile deep and scales profitably.'
The 2024 RealLIST Startup will also use the money to expand its marketing capabilities and its 'Atoms to Bits' platform, which encompasses its two main software products: Sojo Shield, a tool that tracks products in the supply chain, and Sojo Flight.
Flight, patented late last year, licenses Sojo's manufacturing services to similar facilities. Now, the goal is to build more 'rovers,' which are platforms with robotics and conveyors attached to them that can be moved around and connected easily inside third-party facilities.
The company currently has eight sites using the Sojo Flight system, with the goal of increasing that number to 20 by early next year, Bar-Cohen said. It will need additional units to meet demand, as some of Sojo's contracts with large manufacturers and brands require significant volumes of the tools, and some of the funding will help with that.
As a part of its growth, Sojo is also investing in its physical sites.
Sojo has manufacturing and packaging facilities in Pennsylvania, California, Texas and Indiana. Some of the money will go towards enhancing those locations by adding more technology and robotics, according to Bar-Cohen.
Overcoming a challenging fundraising environment
Six months ago, Sojo decided to pursue a Series B round to keep up with growing demand for its products, according to Bar-Cohen.
Last summer, Sojo raised a $10 million Series A. As of October 2024, Sojo Industries was valued at $80 million, according to PitchBook, but the company did not disclose an updated valuation with its current raise.
Raising money is difficult right now, specifically because of macroeconomic uncertainty. Venture capital deal flow in the Philadelphia region was way down last quarter, according to PitchBook's quarterly Venture Monitor report.
Part of the reason the fundraising atmosphere is so challenging is that founders need to show profitable growth at scale, a plan to get there and a strong team to execute it, Bar-Cohen said. The goal is to use this recent raise in a way that will result in 12 to 18-month payback periods.
The company was founded in 2021 by Bar-Cohen, a former beverage company executive, with a specific focus on using robotics and automation to package variety packs of food and beverages.
Originally, Sojo was mostly focused on beverage manufacturing and packaging, but it's now solidly in food and snacks with plans to expand into the pet food, health and beauty markets, Bar-Cohen said.
'If you just focus on the things that you're really, really good at, over and over again,' Bar-Cohen said, 'and you do it well, and you sort of let that permeate across the business and that execution operator mindset — that's as much of a competitive advantage out there as anything.'
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