Backed by Nvidia and Uber. Service robots. Having raised $80 million in a direct offering of 4.2 million shares of common stock, the company hopes to extend its runway through 2026, from the 100 robots on Los Angeles streets to the 2,000 Serve today. In many US cities by the end of 2025
“It's not going to take more money to burn it next year,” CEO Brian Read told TechCrunch. “This is long-term financing to help us get over 2,000 of these robots.”
$80 million raised from unnamed institutional investors topped that. A total profit of $86 million By December 2024, the aggregated service, combined with previously marketed facilities and securities, brings the startup's total funding over the past 12 months to $247 million.
A robot company that delivers pedestrians. Public earlier this year through a reverse mergerThe $80 million offering is expected to close on Tuesday, subject to certain closing conditions. Serve could not say exactly what the gross proceeds are intended to be used for, but noted that it will go toward capital to build the business and deploy robots.
The service is on the way with its plans to raise $86 million in December, which will go toward investing in self-funded equipment to eliminate equipment financing and associated service costs.
“We have tried to keep our capital costs as low as possible. The best way to do that (in the past) was through interest rates and deposits. To finance our robots with cash and security interests. hardware,” says Read. “We've outgrown that, so we're cash flow better. Now that we can own these robots, we're giving ourselves some real adjustments in our financial direction.”
“This funding not only solidifies this approach starting today, but now we're setting ourselves up for what we're going to look like in 2026 and 2027,” continued Read.
Today, Serve has about 100 robots making deliveries in Los Angeles for about 300 restaurants from the Uber Eats and 7-Eleven platforms. The company began testing in October. Collaboration with Wing To combine pedestrian robotic delivery and drone delivery in Dallas.
By the first quarter of 2025, plans call for an additional 250 robots on the streets of Los Angeles and up to 2,000 bots in several US cities. Contract with Uber Eats.. Read notes that the company expects to be cash flow positive from an operating perspective once the 2,000 units are fully utilized.
This story has been updated to include additional content and information from Serve Robotics CFO Brian Read.