Menu Icon
Refresh Miami Logo
Search Icon
Sign Up Sign In

Kiwibot secures $10M to triple its fleet of robots and expand on college campuses

Nancy Dahlberg
Nancy Dahlberg
PinLinkedIn

By Nancy Dahlberg

Thanks to a new financing deal, Miami-based Kiwibot is closer to its goal of becoming the standard last-mile delivery service in smart cities.

Kiwibot today announced it has secured  $10 million in financing from Swiss-based asset financing group kineo finance. The agreement will help Kiwibot with its manufacturing and scaling needs, growing its robot fleet that has so far completed over 250,000 autonomous food deliveries.

 The robots’ capabilities, made possible by GPS technology, advanced camera sensors and artificial intelligence, mean they can generate optimal routes, avoid obstacles, and provide a cost-effective service. Beyond environmental benefits of the all-electric fleet, Kiwibot says it reduces food delivery costs by up to 65%.

Founded in 2017, Kiwibot launched its first pilot at the University of California-Berkeley campus. Now it is present on 29 college campuses in the US and two in the Middle East where the startup recently expanded. Its 600 robots served 6,942 students and connected 133 restaurants with customers in 2022.

With its new funding, Kiwibot’s fleet is poised to grow, said co-founder and CEO Felipe Chavez, in an interview with Refresh Miami.

“This partnership will take our operations to the next level,” said Chavez. “We’re going to invest totally in the manufacturing of new robots. This is going to allow us to take our fleet to more than 2,000 in total [from 600 today], and we will be able to guarantee that we have the largest robot delivery network in the world. Now we have to do our homework and make sure that those robots are built on time.”

Chavez said the big focus for scaling Kiwibot is via college campuses and the company’s robots may soon be servicing campuses in the Sunshine State. Kiwibot’s first two partnerships with large campuses in Florida are in the works but can’t be announced yet, Chavez said. In the past year, Kiwibot announced partnerships with Grubhub and Sodexo’s Everyday to support its college service.

A Miami warehouse is the hub for Kiwibot’s logistics. The robots are built in Colombia, and final assembly takes place in Miami. From Miami, they are shipped all over the world. Kiwibot’s team is distributed; as of now there are five team members in Miami.

Last year, Kiwibot robots completed a mapping project in downtown Miami. The robots also performed community service during the pandemic in Miami and several other cities, funded by a Knight Foundation grant.

A Kiwibot robot maps Miami’s streets.

The new financing adds to about $14 million the startup has raised so far in venture capital, including a $7.5 million pre-Series A round last year. It is also kineo’s first foray into delivery-as-a-service.

“Kiwibot’s solution is in high demand in the US and has become indispensable for people leading fast-paced lives. This partnership is the financial push they need to propel their startup into wider markets,” said kineo President Charles Sellman.

“This is an endorsement on the robot future that we are envisioning with Kiwibot,” adds Chavez. “The vision of our company is to automate the physical world, so now we’re one step closer.”

From left, Kiwibot team members Natalia Pinilla (Head of Manufacturing), Felipe Chávez (CEO), Sergio Pachón (President). Photos provided by Kiwibot.

Follow Nancy Dahlberg on Twitter @ndahlberg and email her at [email protected]

READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:

Nancy Dahlberg
Latest posts by Nancy Dahlberg (see all)