Seattle-based food robotics company Picnic Works is raising more cash, according to a Thursday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filing notes Picnic has raised $13.8 million and is looking to raise an additional $7.5 million. The funding would build on a $16.3 million Series A round the company raised in May 2021.
"The information included on the form represents a portion of recent fundraising, and we look forward to sharing more details in the coming weeks," a Picnic spokesperson wrote in a statement to the Business Journal. "We're excited about the interest in Picnic."
Picnic's robot assembles, but does not cook, pizzas. The machine can produce up to 100 ready-to-cook pizzas in an hour with a single worker, according to the company. The ingredients and proportions are still up to the operator, but the machine applies the sauce, cheese and toppings. The robot is about 7 feet wide, 5 feet tall and 3 feet deep.
Picnic, founded in 2016, has deals with colleges like Ohio State University and Texas A&M University, and the company is at Audi Field, home to the D.C. United soccer team in Washington, D.C. In August, Picnic inked a deal with Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Speedy Eats, an automated restaurant group. According to Picnic CEO Clayton Wood, the Speedy Eats deal could be worth as much as $800 million if the restaurant group hits its goal of opening 5,000 U.S. locations in the next five years.
Investors in Picnic's Series A round included Thursday Ventures, Creative Ventures, Flying Fish Partners and Vulcan Capital. At the time of the Series A round, Wood said the company could eventually move into other foods like sandwiches and salads.
"Our team has been so small up until now, we're 100% focused on pizza," Wood said last year. "Any food that you assemble, the same technology and architecture could do that."
