SoftBank-backed Bear Robotics raises $81 mln for waitering robot rollout

KT

15/03/2022 13:00

By Sam Nussey
    TOKYO, March 15 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp-backed
 9984.T  food service robot startup Bear Robotics has raised $81
million in a Series B funding round with investors that include
Cleveland Avenue, a venture capital firm founded by a former
McDonalds chief executive.
    Other investors include South Korean private equity firm IMM
and telco KT Corp  030200.KS , the startup's co-founder and
chief operating officer Juan Higueros told Reuters, declining to
disclose the firm's latest valuation. 
    Bear Robotics has shipped more than 5,000 of its Servi food
service robots, which carry food and drink between kitchen and
tables on layers of trays, and partnered with industry players
such as Denny's, Chili's and Pepsi.
    The California-based startup aims to expand beyond its home
market and Japan and South Korea, where it has partnered with
SoftBank and KT respectively, into Europe and Southeast Asia
amid industry labour shortages. 
    SoftBank led the startup's Series A round and has shifted to
reselling robots from third parties and formed a joint venture
with household goods maker Iris Ohyama in Japan. 
    Bear Robotics charges a $999 monthly fee for Servi in the
U.S., which gives the robot a running cost of around $2.75 per
hour, Higueros said. 
    The startup plans to roll out two new robots this year, one
that can detect air quality on the move and another that can
carry deliveries from the lobby to upper floors of a building
via the elevator. 
    Bear Robotics makes its products in South Korea, with the
company relying on its head of manufacturing, who previously
worked for Taiwan's Foxconn, to help navigate the "tough to
manage" supply chain pressures, Higueros said. 
    

 (Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
 ((sam.nussey@tr.com;))