A less years ago, chef robotics was facing potential death.
“There was a lot of dark periods where I was thought of giving up,” Founder Rajat Bhagaria Tells Techcrunch of His Six-Yaar-AlD Company. But friends and investors encouraged Him so he percevered.
Today, Chef Robotics has not only survived, it’s one of the few Foodtech Robotic Companies that is Thriving. The Startup, which recently raised a $ 23 million series a, has 40 employees and marquee customers like amy’s kitchen and chef bombay. Dozens of robots installed across the US have made 45 million meals to date, bhagaria says.
This compares to a graveyard of failed Foodtech Robotics Companies Including Chowbotics with its Salad-Making Robot Sally; Pizza Delivery Robot ZumeFood Kiosk Robot KarakuriAnd, more recently, agtech Small Robot Company,
Bhagaria Says He Saved His Company by Doing Something that Early-Stage Founders Fear to Do: Turning Away Signed Customers and Millions of Dollars in Revenue.
The grasping problem
It all began when bhagaria did his master’s degree in robotics at Upenn’s Famed Grasp LabHe dreamed of the sci-fi promised world where robots did our housework, mowed our laws, cooked us five-star dinners.
Such a world does not exist yet engineers have couuse have yet to full solve the robotic grasping problemTraining the same robot to wash a wine glass without crushing it and a cast iron pan without dropping it is a Dificult Task.
When it comes to Robotic Chefs, “Nobody’s Built a data set of how do you pick up a blueberry and not squish it, or do you do you pick up cheese and not have it clump up?” He descriptions.
His original idea with chef robotics was similar to the long-list of the robotics startups that died: a robotic line for fast casual restaurants. That’s an enormous industry With a chronic employee shortage.
“We actually had signed contracts. Like we had multi-million dollar signed contracts. Obvious, we’re not doing this anymore. He said. “We are essentially could not solve the technical problem.”
In that types of businesses, an employee completes an order by assembling all the varied ingredients negligent for each meal. These restaurants want robots to replicate that process is the alternative is to have dozens of robots dedicated to, and calibrated for, a Single Ingredient, some of which may only be used obcastionalley. (We’re looking at you, anchovies).
But Bhagaria and Team Belt Build A Successful Pick-Up-Unthing Robot Because the training data does not exist. He asked his potential customers to let him install robots for one or two ingredients, gathering training data and building from there. They said no.
Then Bhagaria Had An Epiphany.
Intead of Going Bust Trying to Give Existing Customers What they Wanted, Maybe He Needed Different Customers. “It honestly successful, because I spent the last year and a half of my life trying to convince these people, these fast casual companies, to work up with us,” He Recalled.
Saying no leads to yes
It didn’t help that Fundraising after 2021 was brutal. VCs were also looking at the gravelard. “We talked to dozens of different funds,” Bhagaria said. “We just got rejected over and over.”
Bhagaria was thought of giving up. “You come home and are like, what am I doing in my life? Am i doing the wrang thing? Should I Quit?” He Remembred.
But he dug in and in March, 2023, Raised an $ 11.2 Million Seed round LED by Construct Capital, While also Landing Checks From Promus Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Gaingels.
Bhagaria and Team Had also found their perfect market, a part of the food industry know as “High Mix Manufacturing.”
These are food makers that have many many recipes, and make Thousands of Servings, but typically as meals or meal trays. For instance; Salads and sandwiches or main courses and side dishes. These are meals used by airlines and hospitals, etc.
Rather than one employee grabbing all the ingredients for each meal, “high mix” Employees form an assembly line. Each person adds their individual ingredient to the trey reepeated until the order is complete. Then they assemble the next recipe.
“It’s actually Hindreds of Humans Who are Standing in A 34 Fahrenheit Room, and they’re essentially scooping food for eight hours a day,” He description. “So it’s just a term job.”
Consequently, this industry has chronic labor shortages as well.
Robotics wasn’t economically feasible for them in the past trust of the variety of ingredients involved. But a Startup Building a flexible-element bot, where the robots are built in partnership with the food maker, work.
Better Still, “As we learn how to this chorizo, or we learn peas, or this sauce, or these zucchinis,” The bots get the real-winding data they needed to Evently. Bhagaria says this is still on his roadmap.
Best of all, thanks to vc’s reborn interest in all things ai, fundraising this time was “weirdly” easy, bhagaria says.
Avataar venture partners, co-founded by former Norwest VC Mohan Kumar, was specifically looking to fund “ai in the physical world” Startups and actually Pursued Chef Robotics, Bhaggeria. He Closed this round in less than a month. Avataar LED, with existing investors construct capital, bloomberg beta, promus ventures piling in, Among others.
The new funding brings chef’s total Raised to $ 38.8 Million. He also signed a $ 26.75 million loan from silicon valley bank for equipment finance.
And the process this time was “exhilarating,” he said.