Starship Technologies, a producer of autonomous robots designed for last-mile deliveries, has secured US$17.2m in seed funding from vehicle manufacturer Daimler, along with Shasta Ventures, Matrix Partners, ZX Ventures, Morpheus Ventures, Grishin Robotics and Playfair Capital.
Starship Technologies entered a partnership with Daimler-owned Mercedes-Benz Vans in 2016 to begin developing and testing ‘Robovan,’ a vehicle specially adapted to integrate and house the Starship delivery robots.
Ahti Heinla, CEO, Starship Technologies, said, “Starship is reinventing the last-mile transportation process, allowing convenient and sustainable robotic delivery. This funding further accelerates development of our technologies and enables us to launch pilot programs in several new markets.”
Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, said, “Starship Technologies and Mercedes-Benz Vans share a strong vision: we both strive to fundamentally change the way we think about the delivery on the last mile. Together, we will make that vision come true and show the potential of robotic delivery devices in a combined holistic transportation system. Starship’s unique technology fits perfectly with our vans.”
Starship Technologies is currently operating commercial delivery pilot programs in the USA, UK, Germany, Switzerland and Estonia with partners including Just Eat, Hermes, Metro Group, Swiss Post and Wolt.
To date, robots developed by Starship Technologies have covered more than 16,000 miles around the world in 16 countries and 59 cities, encountering approximately 3.1 million people.
January 16, 2017