Waltham-based Takeoff Technologies, which wants to automate grocery shopping, raised $25 million and closed its Series C financing and rounded off its valuation to $500 million.
The latest round led by Forrestal Capital brings the company's total funds raised to $86 million.
The company will direct the funds to expand its customer base across North America, Europe and Australia, and work on developing autonomous mobile robots known as “open shuttles.”
“Version 2.0 takes all of the innovative features from our original design and optimizes them,” said co-founder and CEO José Vicente Aguerrevere in a statement. “We are constantly working to provide the maximum capabilities and service to our retail clients.”
Takeoff Technologies is founded by three HBS alumni: José Vicente Aguerrevere, who founded a Venezuelan grocery store chain and previously worked as a management consultant for Booz Allen & Hamilton; Max Pedró, a former vice president of international financial services at Walmart; and Rafael Pieretti, a former surgery fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, who has previously co-invested in Venezuelan health initiatives with Aguerrevere after the two first met in kindergarten.
Takeoff’s technology's grocery-sorting robots are meant to reduce the number and size of grocery stores. The company’s model aims to replace big supermarkets with mini-warehouses where customers can pick up their orders, after placing orders online.
The three-year-old company, which launched the world's first robotic supermarket in October last year, announced partnerships with several supermarket chains on the heels of the fundraise: Albertsons, Ahold Delhaize and Wakefern and Sedano’s in the U.S. and Woolworths in Australia.
Takeoff will also add more micro-fulfillment centers in the following months. An advanced version of its micro-fulfillment solution featuring a smaller and cleaner floorspace design, faster order-picking and more storage capacity will be released in 2020.
