AutoStore

AutoStore was founded in 1995. When IT entrepreneur Jakob Hatteland began selling computer components from a barn in Nedre Vats, his business, Hatteland Group, became Northern Europe’s largest distributor of electronic components. When a newly constructed warehouse reached full capacity within one month, Hatteland's technical director, Ingvar Hognaland, developed a compact robotic storage solution, which became the basis of AutoStore’s technology.

In 2000, Arrow Electronics acquired Hatteland Electronic, allowing Hatteland Group to invest further in AutoStore. The first commercial AutoStore system was installed in 2005 at Elotec, a Norwegian security equipment supplier.

In 2017, EQT acquired AutoStore for NOK 4 billion and later sold it in 2019 for NOK 15 billion to Thomas H. Lee Partners and EQT Private Equity, making AutoStore Norway’s first unicorn. In 2021, SoftBank purchased 40% of the company for NOK 23 billion.

AutoStore became listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange in October 2021, marking Norway’s largest IPO in two decades.

In 2023, CEO Karl Johan Lier retired and was succeeded by Mats Hovland Vikse.

In 2024, AutoStore opened a new U.S. headquarters in Salem, New Hampshire.

Services and technology

AutoStore’s cube-based goods-to-person (GTP) system uses robots to retrieve goods from a grid and deliver them to workstations. It eliminates the need for aisles or walkways and increases storage density by up to 400%. The system is modular, scalable, and energy efficient—ten robots use as much energy as a single vacuum cleaner. In a simulation-based academic study, the system’s performance in various warehouse configurations showed significant space and labor savings, confirming its value beyond manufacturer claims. The system is also interoperable with most third-party technologies. CVS, for example, uses AutoStore in combination with the Tompkins Robot tSort to process more than 2 million items per week at its Hainesport, NJ warehouse.

CubeVerse platform

At the center of AutoStore’s intelligent fulfillment strategy is CubeVerse, a cloud-based software platform introduced in 2026. CubeVerse is designed to connect data from system design, simulation, deployment, and live operations into a unified environment. The platform provides a foundation for analytics, optimization, and AI-based applications across the AutoStore lifecycle.

CubeVerse is intended to operate alongside existing warehouse management systems (WMS) and warehouse execution systems (WES), rather than replacing them.

AutoStore Intelligence

AutoStore Intelligence is a suite of AI-driven capabilities embedded within the CubeVerse platform. Introduced alongside CubeVerse, it applies machine learning models trained on operational and simulation data to identify performance constraints, predict potential disruptions, and recommend or execute system optimizations. Reported use cases include routing optimization, system health monitoring, and performance benchmarking across sites.

AutoStore acquired the Denver-based software company Locai in 2019, rebranding it in 2022 as the Qubit Fulfillment Platform. In 2021, it launched its Innovation Hub in Karmøy, Norway.

In 2022, AutoStore introduced Pio, a robotic solution for small and mid-sized businesses that historically were unable to implement the original cube-storage technology due to its large footprint and the significant upfront capital investment it required. Pio combined a compact system footprint with a robot as a service model, charging customers for each item retrieved from the storage system.

In 2025, the company launched its Multi-Temperature Solution for cold and frozen storage and CarouselAI, an AI-powered picking solution co-developed with Berkshire Grey.