Gather AI, maker of ‘curious’ warehouse drones, lands $40M led by Keith Block’s firm 

Gather AI, a startup specializing in AI-driven warehouse cameras and drones, has secured $40 million in a Series B funding round led by Smith Point Capital, the venture firm founded by former Salesforce co-CEO Keith Block. The company was founded in 2017 by four Carnegie Mellon University PhD students who previously developed autonomous helicopters. Gather AI’s technology uses off-the-shelf cameras mounted on warehouse equipment and drones to monitor operations, focusing on key elements such as barcodes, lot codes, expiration dates, and damages. Unlike typical AI models based on large language models (LLMs), Gather AI employs a combination of classical Bayesian techniques and neural networks to create a “curious” AI that actively seeks out relevant information to predict issues like low inventory, misplaced stock, and workflow safety concerns. The startup’s AI platform is designed to operate in challenging environments, including cold storage and freezers, and avoids common LLM problems like hallucinations by relying on probability-based learning methods. This approach enables the system