B GARAGE
San Jose, US · Founded 2017 · 7 known investors
B GARAGE builds autonomous drones powered by computer vision that count and digitalize warehouse inventory in near real time, offered through a Robot-as-a-Service subscription model. The system integrates with warehouse management systems and serves enterprise warehouses handling pallets on high racks or floor-stacked inventory.
Also known as B Garage · B GARAGE
Founders & leadership
B GARAGE was founded in 2017 by Aiden Kim.
Investors · 7
Also in the syndicate · 2
Company profile
researched Aug 2026B GARAGE is a San Jose, California-based robotics company that sells an end-to-end system for automated warehouse inventory counting. The offering combines an autonomous drone, a ground station that performs automatic battery swapping and data transfer, and a web-based inventory management application used to store, analyze and visualize the drone data, schedule scan flights and monitor flight status. The company describes its camera-vision-based autonomy as patent pending and states that the drone operates without a human pilot, prior mapping, beacons or markers, using real-time onboard processing.
The system is positioned for deployment without structural changes to a warehouse and integrates with warehouse management systems so that inventory data can be digitalized in near real time. Drones can be used for pre-scheduled cycle counting during downtime or dispatched on demand for ad hoc checks, covering both pallets on high racks and floor-stacked inventory, and deployments at one site are intended to be replicated at additional warehouses. The company has stated plans to extend its software and hardware to industries beyond logistics, such as defense and security, and to introduce ground robots for inventory management.
Founding story
Founded in 2017 by Aiden Kim, a former software engineer at Oracle who holds a PhD in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University and participated in dog robot research at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, collaborating with Boston Dynamics on hardware development. During his doctoral program Kim identified a scarcity of startups in autonomous flight and initially planned to supply autonomous flight technology to drone manufacturers. After meeting U.S. industry experts in 2019 who described labor shortages in agriculture and logistics, he refocused the company on drones and management software for automated warehouse inventory. The company name is an homage to Willow Garage, the robotics research company behind an open source robotics software platform, and to the company's start in a garage.
Business model
Robot-as-a-Service subscription: customers pay for drone-based inventory counting with minimal upfront cost rather than purchasing hardware outright, with the vendor providing the drone, ground station and management software. The company states no new personnel or infrastructure investment is required after a short installation period.
Subscription fees under a Robot-as-a-Service model covering the autonomous drone hardware, battery-swapping ground station and the inventory management web application.
Traction
Completed a months-long proof-of-concept pilot with Kenco Innovation Lab, a unit of Kenco Logistics, and planned deployment at more than 10 select Kenco warehouses in the U.S. by the end of 2023. The company also reported working with the Incheon Port Authority in South Korea, targeting a project start by the end of 2023. Reported total funding was $30 million as of June 2023.
Latest developments
In June 2023 the company closed a $20 million Series A led by LB Investment, with proceeds directed at further development and commercialization of the drones and at expanding engineering and business teams. It stated plans to enhance its software and integrate it with its hardware to serve industries beyond logistics, including defense and security, and to introduce ground robots for inventory management to broaden its customer base.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Competes in the warehouse inventory drone segment alongside Verity, Gather AI and Corvus Robotics, all of which have also raised funding for inventory drones.
The company cites four differentiators against other inventory-drone vendors: full autonomy covering multiple aisles rather than single aisles or fixed paths, no additional infrastructure or integration required, mapping-free operation, and automatic battery swapping. It contrasts this with competitors that charge initial and ongoing costs for installing markers or beacons (indoor GPS) and regularly updating mapping.
Technology
Camera-vision-based autonomous flight with real-time onboard processing, described as patent pending, enabling operation without prior mapping, beacons, markers or a human pilot, including in GPS-denied environments. The drone navigates across multiple aisles, and a dedicated station automatically swaps a depleted battery for a pre-charged one within minutes. A web application stores, analyzes and visualizes the captured data, schedules flights and monitors flight status, and integrates with warehouse management systems.
Go-to-market
Direct enterprise sales and pilots with logistics operators, expanding from proof-of-concept trials to multi-site rollouts; the Kenco Innovation Lab pilot was intended to scale to more than 10 Kenco warehouses. Inbound inquiries are handled via sales and recruiting contacts on the company website.
Enterprise B2B logistics and warehouse operators that need cycle counting and inventory visibility, including facilities storing pallets on high racks or floor-stacked goods; the company cites U.S. logistics warehouses located away from urban areas that face labor shortages.
Geography
Headquartered in San Jose, California, with U.S. and Korea recruiting contacts; customer engagements reported in the United States (Kenco warehouses) and South Korea (Incheon Port Authority).
History
Established in 2017 and based in San Jose, California, the company began with an autonomous flight technology concept before shifting in 2019 toward warehouse inventory drones and software. It built out a team of senior engineers, many holding master's or PhD degrees with patents and research papers, and by mid-2023 had raised a $20 million Series A bringing total funding to $30 million. Leadership listed publicly includes founder and CEO Aiden Kim, Head of Global Operations Hyungsoo Kim (formerly a partner at Forest Partners) and Director of Autonomy Soonhac Hong (formerly a senior research scientist at Gatik).
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsB Garage announced a $20 million Series A round led by new investor LB Investment, with participation from Ignite Innovation Fund, Krossroad Partners and existing backer SoftBank Ventures Asia. Proceeds were earmarked for further development and commercialization of its drones and for growing engineering and business teams, bringing total funding to $30 million.
$20M source ↗
B Garage reported working with the Incheon Port Authority in South Korea, with the project targeted to commence by the end of 2023.
B Garage completed a months-long proof-of-concept pilot with Kenco Innovation Lab, a unit of Kenco Logistics, and planned to deploy drones at more than 10 select Kenco warehouses across the U.S. by the end of 2023.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- B GARAGEbgarage.ai · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does B GARAGE do?
- B Garage builds fully autonomous, computer-vision drones and software that count warehouse inventory without pilots or beacons.
- Who founded B GARAGE?
- B GARAGE was founded by Aiden Kim in 2017.
- Who are B GARAGE's investors?
- B GARAGE's investors include IMM Investment Japan, Kakao Ventures, KT investment Inc., LB Investment, Z Venture Capital.
- Where is B GARAGE headquartered?
- B GARAGE is headquartered in San Jose, US.