Attabotics Company Profile: History, Technology, Funding and Bankruptcy

Oct 11

3 min read

Updated: 7 days ago

Attabotics was a Canadian company that built a three-dimensional robotic storage system inspired by ant colonies, raised about CAD 220 million and went bankrupt in July 2025. Its assets were sold to a family-owned firm in Kentucky. This profile sets out its history, technology, funding and failure.

Attabotics at a Glance

Fact	Detail
Company	Attabotics Inc.
Founded	2016, by Scott Gravelle; some accounts give 2015
Headquarters	Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Equity raised	About CAD 220 million
Peak revenue	CAD 11.4 million, in 2022
Bankruptcy	July 2025
Assets sold to	Lafayette Systems, Kentucky, September 2025
Employees terminated	Nearly 200

Company History

Scott Gravelle founded Attabotics in Calgary and built a proof of concept in 2017. The idea was a storage cube in which robots move vertically as well as horizontally, so that goods are stored in three dimensions and warehouse space can be cut sharply. The company announced a manufacturing site in Calgary in 2018, and won attention and awards, including a place among Time's best inventions of 2019.

Key milestones

2016: Founded.
2017: Proof of concept.
2018: Partnership with Gordon Food Service; manufacturing site announced.
2020: CAD 34 million from the Government of Canada; a reported chance to sell to Honeywell for USD 350 million was not taken.
2021 and March 2023: Fires involving its equipment at customer sites.
2022: Expansion into South Korea and the European Union; revenue peaks.
July 2025: Bankruptcy filing.
September 2025: Asset sale agreed.

Technology

Element	Description
The Gallery	Cube-based storage structure, stackable up to 9 meters, said to cut space needs by up to 85%
Attabot Blade	Robot that travels vertically and horizontally to retrieve bins
Nodes	Configurable workstations
Weave	Order management and control software

Funding and Investors

The company raised about CAD 220 million in equity. Named investors were the Government of Canada, Export Development Canada, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Honeywell.

The Failure

Item	Figure
Revenue, 2022	CAD 11.4 million
Revenue, 2024	CAD 3 million
Loss, 2024	CAD 49.5 million
Assets at shutdown	Almost CAD 32 million
Liabilities at shutdown	More than CAD 73 million

Attabotics was never profitable. A Series D funding round stalled, and its largest creditor, Export Development Canada, served notice in June 2025. Staff were dismissed at the end of June and the bankruptcy followed.

On September 17, 2025, Lafayette Systems signed an agreement to buy substantially all of the assets, including the intellectual property, equipment and inventory. Lafayette was formed in August 2025 by Bruce and Beth Robbins, who also founded Lafayette Engineering, a conveyor and sortation controls company. Its bid was the highest of six; the price was not disclosed.

Customers

Customers and partners included Gordon Food Service, Nordstrom, Canadian Tire and Tesco. Attabotics was in litigation with Canadian Tire after a fire in March 2023.

Lessons

Heavy funding and awards did not translate into revenue: sales peaked at CAD 11.4 million.
Fires and a customer dispute damaged a product that depended on trust in its safety.
A reported USD 350 million offer in 2020 far exceeded anything the company achieved later.

Current Catalogue Coverage

Catalogue checked on 15 October 2026: 1 associated product records. The links below are representative entries, rather than a claim that every historical model is currently available.

Attabotics