DoorDash (NYSE: DASH) has acquired Chowbotics, a salad-making robotics company based in Hayward, California. Terms were not disclosed.
Chowbotics uses an advanced robot called Sally to perform meal prep, primarily salads. Founded in 2014, Chowbotics has raised $20.8 million in funding across five funding rounds. Techstars and Geekdom Fund have served as lead investors.
The company offers a mobile app that debuted in 2020 to allow for contactless ordering. Users can browse the menu and place an order from the nearest Sally, which is often located in restaurants, grocery stores, universities or medical centers.
Sally is a refrigerator-sized robot that uses up to 22 self-contained fresh ingredients to prepare meals in under 90 seconds. Its meal capabilities include salads such as three-bean salad, Thai noodle salad, Poke or a smoked brisket bowl, breakfast and snacks including Greek yogurt and ethnic cuisines, and grain bowls.
Rick Wilmer, CEO, announced the sale to DoorDash in a blog post.
“Making fresh food more accessible and convenient has always been core to our mission. As a part of DoorDash, this mission is now turbocharged,” he wrote. “The expertise and scale of DoorDash unlocks our most ambitious aspirations to enable food convenience through technology. As the leader in food delivery and on-demand logistics, DoorDash is uniquely positioned to further accelerate Chowbotics’ market presence and new product development.”
Wilmer went on to say that DoorDash merchants could expand their menu offerings with Chowbotics’ technology.
“From our very first exploratory meetings, the synergy was obvious,” he said. “DoorDash has led its work with a meaningful vision, built an amazing team, and created an incredible culture. We already feel so welcome and so well supported, and want to thank DoorDash for making us feel like we’re home.”
DoorDash co-founder Stanley Tang told The Verge the acquisition would open up new use cases for DoorDash customers.
Click for more FreightWaves articles by Brian Straight.
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