Kiwibot snags another $7.5 million investment round, closes expansion deal with Sodexo

The Colombian robotic sidewalk delivery startup announced a multimillion-dollar contract expansion with foodservice giant Sodexo. Kiwibot, which recently set up new headquarters in Miami, has also raised a pre-Series A round of $7.5 million from five investors, bringing its total funding to $14 million.

One of the investors is Paris-based Sodexo, which runs the second-largest foodservice provider in the U.S. Headline and House of Lithium, which focus on smart technologies for college campuses, are among the other investors. The new funding, Kiwibot said, will go toward development and deployment.

That said, the contract Sodexo is expected to expand Kiwibot's autonomous fleet to more than1,200 robots 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 person of Sodexo North America. "This year, more students than ever will benefit from autonomous delivery, and we're pleased to be at the forefront of this emerging market."

Kiwibots are already on 10 campuses. Fleets will be arriving at another 10 colleges this spring. To date, robotic last-mile deliveries have been taking place in New Mexico State University, Loyola Marymount University, and Gonzaga University, as well as in various places in Washington D.C. So far, more than 200,000 deliveries have reportedly been made at these locations.

"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 Kiwibot chief executive Felipe Chávez Cortés, who founded the company in 2017. 

He said the company plans to produce 100 robots a month.