Los Angeles startup Coco has unleashed its remote-piloted delivery services on the streets of Austin, Texas.
Zach Rash and Brad Squicciarini founded Coco in 2020, putting their robotics backgrounds to work to develop a faster and more cost-effective method of short-distance delivery. The vehicle will deliver inside of a two-mile radius and is outfitted with a GPS, camera and storage space to keep food safe and temperature controlled.
"Right now, we have these gas cars circling neighborhoods all day, every day," Rash said. "People clearly want groceries and meals delivered quickly, but doing it with these contractors and car-based methods didn’t seem like the future we wanted to be building."
Here's how it works: A customer places an order; Coco drives to the restaurant; the merchant loads the order onto Coco; in 15 minutes or less, Coco delivers the order.
"At the end of the day, the core of our service is delivering something from point A to point B," Rash said. "The way the food travels and is delivered is critical for the merchants’ businesses."
Coco services more than 50 merchants across Los Angeles. Last month, the startup announced its expansion into Austin with 10 merchants already on board, including Arpeggio Grill, Bamboo Bistro, Clay Pit, DeSano Pizzeria, Tuk Tuk Thai and Aviator Pizza.
"It’s a great market that meets our requirements in terms of having a lot of local businesses and types of orders," he said. "It seemed like the natural next step and really resonates with this type of service."
Rash added that Coco plans to launch in Houston, Dallas and Miami in the coming months.
The company has raised more than $62 million in capital since its launch, including a $56 million Series A funding round last summer. Rash said the influx of venture capital has helped fuel the startup's rapid growth.
