Dexory is transforming the logistics industry at an unprecedented pace, empowering warehouses to achieve end to end visibility and maximum operational efficiency.

Since 2022, the UK-based company has deployed its pioneering autonomous scanning robots and digital twin platform to supply chain giants including Maersk, GXO, ID Logistics, Unipart, Iron Mountain, GE Appliances and many more. In parallel, Dexory secured $120 million of funding to accelerate product development and commercial expansion.  

This extraordinary growth in just 2 years since product launch is a testament to the dynamic and agile nature of the company, driven by the full stack philosophy that was embedded from the start. 

‘My vision since the beginning was to build a full stack company,’ reveals Andrei Danescu, CEO at Dexory. ‘Typically, robotics companies experiment in a lab and then try to find a problem to solve with their technology. Whereas our approach was to develop a solution that addressed a real-world customer problem, and then continually improve upon that.’ 

‘To achieve this, we had to blend robotics, autonomous systems, software, and AI technologies with in-house production facilities, carefully tuning these capabilities to suit a specific niche application,’ explains Danescu. ‘This approach required taking full control of the end-to-end process, adopting a full-stack mindset to enable rapid iteration, maximize efficiency, and maintain close collaboration with customers. By doing so, we were able to develop a truly disruptive technology designed for immediate real-world applications and impact.’

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What is a full stack company?

A business is considered ‘full stack’ when it oversees the entire lifecycle of its products or services, from the initial design and development through to production, distribution and ongoing support. Whereas the conventional approach is to sell or license a specific technology and outsource to third party vendors.   

For example, Microsoft used to focus on developing particular aspects of a computer, such as the operating system, or the individual apps, and then relied on external partners to integrate their software into devices. Apple on the other hand, opted for the full stack mentality and controlled everything, designing their own chips, packaging and retail experience [1]. 

Having complete control of a product’s life cycle allows companies to accelerate the deployment of new technology and disrupt legacy industries, as demonstrated by the likes of SpaceX. The unique solutions of Elon Musk’s venture combined with the agility and independence of being full stack is why SpaceX now dominates current markets such as satellite launches, as well as emerging markets like space and interplanetary travel. In fact, within a decade SpaceX transformed space exploration, cutting costs to orbit by a factor of 18 [2] and managing around two thirds of NASA’s launches [3]. 

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Why Dexory went full stack

A better understanding of the problem

Just like a Formula 1 team setting the intention of winning every race and dominating the championship, the team from Dexory set the intention of solving some of the hardest supply chain problems. To achieve this, they decided to start inside the warehouse to understand the fundamental challenges warehouses were facing and the opportunities for improvement.

‘Thoroughly understanding the needs of the customer has been in our DNA since the beginning,’ highlights Oana Jinga, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial & Product Officer at Dexory. ‘In the early days we spent a lot of time in warehouses, mapping out every step of current processes and then tried to take a fresh perspective to solving their daily issues.’

‘For instance, a car enthusiast will typically want to drive faster and therefore think they need a more powerful engine,’ explains Jinga. ‘But a more efficient car design, grippier tyres and accurate data will achieve the same result, in a safer, more efficient way. Similarly, warehouses want more accurate, faster inventory taking and therefore think they need more employees. However, we realised that an intuitive automation system is a better answer because it enables existing teams to maximize efficiency and focus on the highest leverage tasks with perfect data for immediate decision making.’

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This direct interaction with the customer is one of the key benefits of the full stack model. Rather than relying on third parties to relay customer requirements, Dexory can capture and leverage valuable insights firsthand to develop a more tailored solution. 

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Complete control of the product lifecycle 

Solving a multitude of real-world problems led to an extremely complex technology stack. The Dexory platform combines an intelligent, autonomous robot which captures warehouse  data, with intuitive software called DexoryView that creates a digital twin of the warehouse. Staff can then interact with this digital twin and analyse each pallet location, either in the racks or block storage, helping to quickly and easily identify errors, optimise space and improve overall efficiency.

The development of such a sophisticated hardware and software platform was only made possible by having complete control of the end-to-end process, which is another advantage of a full stack business.

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‘There was nothing in the market that we could use as a building block to develop what we wanted and most importantly, what the industry really needed,’ says Adrian Negoita, Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer at Dexory. ‘Even if there were off the shelf technologies we could use, it’s difficult to seamlessly integrate these pieces together and create a bespoke solution that truly answered our customers' problems.For such a fundamental application, none of them met our performance and quality standards.’

‘Designing our own platform from scratch meant we had full control over everything, enabling us to execute at a very fast pace,’ adds Negoita. ‘Besides, the moment you use someone else’s product, you become dependent on them and their development roadmap. It can be hard to get suppliers to pull in the same direction and most importantly at the same pace as you. . We wanted to hit an incredible delivery roadmap and had hugely ambitious goals to develop a completely new product, but also bring this to market in record time. Naturally, we believed that being a full stack company was the best way to achieve this.’

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Faster response to customers

By adopting a full-stack approach and taking full responsibility for every stage of a product’s design, manufacturing, and deployment, Dexory can quickly respond to customer needs. This strategy reinforces trust, as customers experience Dexory’s market leadership, engineering excellence, and commitment to evolving the technology to address their specific use cases and industry challenges.

‘If customers have a question or an idea for a new feature, they can reach out directly and we’ll review, analyze together, and develop solutions swiftly,’ highlights Jinga. ‘Unlike working with multiple vendors, where requests must navigate through a lengthy chain, our streamlined, in-house approach allows us to respond efficiently while staying aligned with customer needs.’

‘This fast response time and our flexibility to adapt our offerings to suit their specific needs builds strong relationships with customers,’ says Jinga. ‘We become trusted partners, trying to solve a multitude of challenges with a single solution. Bringing cutting edge industrial products to market requires close collaboration with the end users, not just the end customers. Having a very tight feedback loop with our customers alongside our incredible full stack capabilities has been the winning formula for our success so far.’

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How Dexory went full stack

Instilling the right culture 

So, what tactics did Dexory use to successfully implement this full stack philosophy? ‘It starts with instilling the right mindset, striving to achieve the utmost speed coupled with a continuous iterative process,’ explains Danescu. ‘Everyone needs to have that innate sense of urgency, being transparent, accountable and open-minded as this creates the right environment and space for people to innovate and fail fast, which ultimately accelerates development.’

‘We also give people responsibility and recognition so that even if the job is as small as fitting a screw to a plate, it’s done with pride and ownership,’ adds Danescu. ‘This then translates through, achieving a much higher quality product for our customers. We all work as a team to contribute to the product's success and the technology’s impact into the market. We all want to have better, more resilient and robust supply chains and this is a huge motivation.’

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However, implementing such a mindset is extremely challenging, but one that Dexory has overcome by employing the right people. ‘We have refined our hiring process so that we are clear from the start what it is like to work at Dexory,’ highlights Jinga. 

‘It is a dynamic, very fast-paced and rewarding place to work, but it does require long hours and a  continuous drive for self-improvement,’ says Jinga. ‘We aim to reflect this in our job descriptions to filter the right attitude  through and once they are employed,  immerse them in this culture, living up to the promise.’

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Finding the right investors

Arguably the biggest challenge Dexory faced was securing enough funding to keep up with their rate of development. The full stack methodology requires a company to be self-sufficient to iterate fast and deliver quality, yet this demands significant resources, time and money. 

‘I’ve had experience with nearly every type of funding available to ensure a lack of capital did not stifle our progress or slow us down,’ reveals Danescu. ‘The reason full stack companies are successful is because they have so much capability, but having this capability is what makes them very expensive to run.’

‘You need investors who understand that full stack companies are cost intensive, have a completely different and unique profile but the reward is much higher, along with the ability to create new value streams and new opportunities in the market,’ continues Danescu. ‘We’ve seen this with the impressive achievements of SpaceX who are now the only commercial spaceflight company that can send astronauts to space [4]. We’ve been very fortunate to have investors who recognise the potential of being full stack.’

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Dexory’s vision for the future  

The latest version of the Dexory technology is capable of scanning over 12,500 pallet locations per hour which is over 200 pallet locations every minute -  25 times more than other methods. It achieves this with a fully autonomous robot which requires no changes to the warehouse. This scanned data is then fed in real-time to DexoryView, updating the digital twin model in seconds, ensuring staff always have up to date visibility of their entire warehouse operations. 

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But this is just the beginning. The team at Dexory are already working on the next round of upgrades both on the hardware and software side, increasing scanning speed and further embedding AI to provide more intuitive and impactful data insights.  

‘What we are building at Dexory is something much bigger than simply scanning warehouses and transforming data into insights,’ concludes Danescu. ‘We are at the tip of the iceberg in terms of the problems our platform can solve for the wider supply chain industry.’

‘With larger data sets and the latest advances in AI, we can leverage deeper and better insights which will transform warehousing operations and drive this end-to-end supply chain efficiency. We are at a point now where prediction and optimization will start to blend seamlessly, enabling the logistics industry to operate in ways that are still considered impossible,’ continues Danescu. ‘That’s the power of this technology; the transformational impact it can bring to the global supply chain. We are creating a better future which is really exciting and that belief is what gets me out of bed every morning.’

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References

[1] C.D., 2015. The Full Stack Startup [Online]. Andreessen Horowitz.

[2] M.W., K.L., M.S., 2020. SpaceX, Economies of Scale, and a Revolution in Space Access [Online]. Harvard Business School.

[3] A.M., 2020. SpaceX now dominates rocket flight, bringing big benefits—and risks—to NASA [Online]. Science AAAS.

[4] E.H., 2022. SpaceX: Facts about Elon Musk's private spaceflight company [Online]. Space.com