Kiwibot Raises $7.5M in Funding, Plans to Expand Robot Delivery Fleet
February 17, 2022
Kiwibot, which develops sidewalk delivery robots, has announced raising a pre-Series A round of funding of about $7.5 million from five investors. The company also announced a multimillion-dollar contract expansion with food services and facilities management company Sodexo. The company said the contract and funding will enable it to expand its robot fleet, with the goal of having more than 1,200 robots delivering food and packages across 50 U.S. college campuses by the end of 2022.
“The early success of our Kiwibot partnership has shown that automated delivery is not only possible and reliable, it’s desirable,” said Sarosh Mistry, chair of Sodexo North America. “Sodexo is focused on meeting our clients and consumers where they are, and Kiwibot helps us do that. This year, more students than ever will benefit from autonomous delivery, and we’re pleased to be at the forefront of this emerging market.”
Sodexo was one of the five investors in the pre-Series A funding round, which also includes Headline and House of Lithium. Kiwibot said the new funding will also go to developing further technology and expanding the reach across college campuses and cities.
“As Kiwibot has both cash and contracts in hand, we really appreciate being chosen to help them negotiate with manufacturers, speed up the manufacturing process for the next Kiwibot generation, and open up Asia’s markets for the robots,” said Joseph Huang, partner at Headline.
Because of the existing partnership with Sodexo, Kiwibot said it expects to rollout services across 10 campuses, with the goal of 50 locations by the end of the year. Existing locations include New Mexico State University, Loyola Marymount University, and Gonzaga University, as well as some locations in Washington, D.C. The company’s semi-autonomous robots can be integrated into any business’s point-of-sale to distribute food products, without the high commission rate for food delivery services.
“We have been intensely working in the robotic food delivery field for the last five years, and this funding will allow us to expand the business at the speed that the market is demanding,” said Felipe Chavez Cortes, CEO and co-founder of Kiwibot. “We are set to build the most advanced robot delivery fleet: building 100 robots a month, expanding to exciting locations, and connecting with new partners, universities, and cities to advance safe and equitable mobility with zero-emissions solutions.”
The company said it has made more than 200,000 deliveries since its 2017 founding, and recent partnerships include Careem to deliver local orders in Dubai, and with the Knight Foundation to help advance safe and equitable mobility in four U.S. cities. In addition to making deliveries, Kiwibots can help map areas and collect infrastructure data for local authorities.
For more details on Kiwibot and its technology, visit its website here.
