Kiwibot, a Colombian delivery robot start-up, has secured a multimillion-dollar contract expansion with Sodexo, a food services and facilities management company, to expand its robotic fleet delivering more than 1,200 robots across 50 US college campuses by the end of 2022.
Initially in the spring Kiwibot expects to roll out its delivery bots to 10 campuses, before reaching the goal of 50 locations later this year. To date, robotic last-mile deliveries have been successfully taking place in New Mexico State University, Loyola Marymount University, and Gonzaga University as well as in various places in Washington D.C. Kiwibot added this demonstrates the increasing potential of this business.
The semi-autonomous robots are designed to offer in-field customer support and integration with any business’ point-of-sale to distribute food products, without the high commission rate for food delivery services. College students can use their meal plans from Sodexo to access Kiwibot’s delivery service.
Additionally, Kiwibot, which now has a new headquarters in Miami, has raised a pre-Series A of US$7.5m (£5.5m) from five investors, bringing its total raised so far to US$14m (£10m). One of the investors is Sodexo, which are doubling its efforts to implement safe, convenient foodservice solutions.
“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 Chávez Cortés, the 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-emission solutions.”
Other lead investors, Headline and House of Lithium, are looking to drive the future of smart university campuses. This funding will go towards developing further technology and expanding the robot’s reach across multiple college campuses and cities.
“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, 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.”
