CommonSense Robotics Rebrands, Plants U.S. Flag

The robotic grocery picking startup known previously as CommonSense Robotics has established a new headquarters in New York to seed a U.S. expansion and has rebranded itself as Fabric—a name it says is inspired by a commitment to partner with food retailers on a new supply chain infrastructure to enable e-commerce.

The company, previously based in Tel Aviv, Israel, has also hired U.S.-based leadership, including Patrick Davis as chief financial officer and Steven Hornyak as chief commercial officer. Both Davis and Hornyak are retail technology veterans.

The company envisions building and operating private or multi-tenant robotic pick centers to be used by retailers as a service, capable of providing delivery of online orders in an hour, supported by facilities in close proximity to consumers and advanced robotic picking centers that save time and labor. The company is already operating in partnership with the Tel Aviv drug chain Super Pharm.

“In becoming Fabric, our vision is finally reflected in our brand,” Elram Goren, CEO and co-founder, said in a statement. “For us, our robots and software are critical to what we do, but, at the end of the day, they’re a means to an end. What we’re really here to do is to be the fabric of the new world of e-commerce: mission-critical, on-demand order fulfillment, enabling goods to be fulfilled and delivered faster and cheaper within cities.

“With a location-first approach, micro-fulfillment centers now become part of cities’ fabric, enabling retailers to maintain their hard-earned identity and customer relationships while also building a thriving e-commerce business,” he added. “This new brand reflects our vision to transform last-mile logistics so that on-demand e-commerce becomes a profitable and scalable business for all retailers.”

Fabric engaged the Brooklyn-based ad agency Red Antler, known for its work launching digitally native consumer brands such as Casper, Allbirds, Birchbox and Brandless, in crafting its new brand.

“There’s no doubt about it—when it comes to fulfillment, you need to get closer to grow bigger,” Hornyak said in a statement. “Traditional supply chains are broken for profitable one-hour fulfillment, and we’re here to fix that with micro-fulfillment. When it comes to fulfillment, retailers need absolute flexibility, whether it’s their technical and operational requirements or their business needs. While other fulfillment solutions force retailers to compromise on critical value propositions, our platform enables retailers to grow their business while also bringing them closer to their customers. We are proud to serve as a transparent partner that’s committed to helping retailers meet their goals, whether that’s 5,000 SKUs or 50,000 SKUs that need to be fulfilled and delivered on-demand.”

Hornyak brings 30 years of retail technology leadership experience, including most recently as CEO of Symphony CPG|AI. Davis most recently was CFO of the software company Sharethrough.