A San Francisco startup known for its six-wheeled autonomous delivery robots is raising as much as $91 million in a new, previously undisclosed funding round.
Starship Technologies has raised around $85 million in a new round that opened in January, according to an SEC filing. The offering includes equity and future securities, and the total amount sold could still increase by more than $5 million.
It's unclear who invested in the round, but Starship's previous investors include South Korea's TDK Ventures, Mercedes-Benz Group, Goodyear Ventures and NordicNinja VC.
Starship didn't respond to a request for comment.
The new funding comes a couple of years since Starship raised nearly $100 million across two separate rounds. In early 2022, the company raised $42 million in a Series B round, in addition to $57 million in a quasi-equity deal from the European Investment Bank which included some debt.
According to PitchBook, that Series B round ultimately increased slightly to $46 million. That would bring Starship's total funding to at least $270,000, including both equity and debt.
The company also received just shy of $680,000 in 20202 from a Paycheck Protection Program loan, which was forgiven, according to ProPublica.
The company was founded in 2014 by Janus Friis and CTO Ahti Heinla. Current CEO Alastair Westgarth joined the company in July 2021.
They're developing a fleet of small, autonomous delivery robots that can carry up to four standard-sized bags of groceries and launched its commercial services in 2018, first in the U.K. before expanding to Germany and the U.S.
Starship has partnered with retailers, restaurants and universities to offer its delivery services
In June 2022, Starship cut 11% of its workforce and pulled out of some markets including Modesto and Pleasanton where it had been offering grocery delivery services from Save Mart. And all of its partners in Mountain View also appeared to be inactive at the time, according to a Bay Area Inno analysis.
