Robot kitchen assistant startup opens investment to the masses
The company is known for its “Flippy” autonomous kitchen assistant – a burger-flipping robot designed to bring a safer and healthier work environment to food service staff by reducing human to food contact, while at the same time expediting the completion of mundane tasks to meet the demand surges of the new delivery-driven industry. The popularity of Flippy, says the company, caused it to re-think its next funding round raise and decide to “bring intelligent automation to the masses for investment.”
With an equity crowdfunding approach, says the company, individual investors can enter the field without access to a large source of capital. The model gives an average person the opportunity to bring transformative technologies to market by investing as little as $1500. In return, they receive ownership of a small piece of the company, which will increase or decrease in value with the company’s fortunes.
“It has become clear that the traditional VC fundraising model has limited the investor pool to only heavyweight companies for far too long,” says Buck Jordan CEO of Miso Robotics. “There is so much exciting innovation underway in AI and ML that the average person wants the opportunity to invest. The demand is really starting to disrupt the VC landscape with more companies opening themselves up to smaller individual investors – it’s been a growing trend, and Miso Robotics is excited to allow more people to shape a healthier and more productive kitchen environment for the future.”
The company has already secured over $2.6 million in reservations, following an $80 million pre-money valuation in 2019. The Miso Robotics equity crowdfunding campaign is being executed in collaboration with equity crowdfunding platform SeedInvest and robotics and automation incubator Wavemaker Labs, with the aim of raising up to $30 million in new funding.
While projections of economic downturn amid COVID-19 are causing some industries to slow down, says the company, automation is proving to be an area of growth. Since the rise of the pandemic, SeedInvest saw a spike in investments for robotics, automation, and healthcare solutions – with March marking the highest jump.
In January Miso Robotics launched the next iteration of Flippy – Flippy ROAR – designed to meet the needs of the quick service restaurant (QSR) market that is facing growing challenges in labor turnover, real estate costs, delivery, and take out demand, as well as health concerns. The new design positions Flippy under a standard kitchen hood creating as zero-footprint impact to optimize space, while expanding abilities to cover more staff stations by interacting with a food hopper.
The advancement, says the company, further limits the transmission of potential pathogens through food contact, while producing higher volumes of perfectly consistent food thanks to enhanced frying capabilities for up to 14 different foods. The new Series C round raise will accelerate speed to market for Flippy ROAR and serve to expand the current talent for the team that already spans data science, industrial engineering, and robotics experts.
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