Starship Technologies, the leading autonomous delivery service, has successfully raised $90 million in funding to further develop its delivery robots and expand globally. The funding round was co-led by Plural and Iconical, bringing the total investment in Starship to $230 million since its establishment in 2014.
The company’s delivery robots have become a common sight in Europe and the US, revolutionizing the last-mile delivery industry by making over six million deliveries. Operating in 80 locations worldwide, including the US, UK, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, and Finland, the robots are capable of delivering takeaways, grocery orders, tools, and corporate documents with reduced energy consumption compared to humans.
Last-mile delivery has long been considered a costly and carbon-intensive aspect of the supply chain, posing challenges for logistics companies globally. However, the rise in demand for rapid deliveries, particularly in the online food delivery market, has created an urgent need for more efficient and sustainable solutions. Starship’s robots offer a cost-effective and eco-friendly way to deliver goods directly to customers over short distances, addressing the major challenges faced by the last-mile delivery industry.
Each Starship robot can operate for 18 hours on a full charge and consumes only as much energy as boiling a kettle for a single cup of tea during an average delivery. Since their launch, Starship robots have reduced nearly 1.8 million kg of carbon dioxide emissions, making them a more ethical and sustainable alternative to human delivery personnel.
By perfecting its technology over the past decade, Starship has achieved 99% autonomy for its robots, enabling them to navigate challenging situations and obstacles safely. They can operate in various conditions, including snow, rocky terrain, and blockages en route, with an average of three crossings made per second worldwide. It took the company six years to reach one million deliveries and half that time to complete the next five million.
One recent breakthrough for Starship is the introduction of groundbreaking wireless charging for the robots. The company successfully launched wireless charging at George Mason University in the US, allowing the robots to autonomously recharge between deliveries. This innovation aims to enhance the efficiency of the last-mile delivery process and contributes to Starship’s vision of creating a fully autonomous system deployable at scale. The company plans to roll out its wireless charging solution globally in the coming months.
With its new funding, Starship plans to utilize advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to further improve its technology, AI capabilities, and wireless charging infrastructure. The company aims to expand to more international markets, particularly with its Delivery as a Service (DaaS) product, which integrates Starship robots into partners’ delivery infrastructure.
Starship has built a world-class team of engineers, data scientists, designers, and operations specialists over the past decade. The team is spread across Tallinn, Estonia (the founding office), San Francisco (the global headquarters), as well as the US, UK, Denmark, Finland, and Germany.
The CEO and co-founder of Starship Technologies, Ahti Heinla, emphasized that autonomous delivery is no longer a science fiction concept but rather a daily reality for hundreds of thousands of people. Heinla expressed confidence in the potential of Starship to become a category-dominating company that can positively impact the lives of millions of individuals in numerous locations worldwide.
As Starship continues to lead the way in autonomous delivery, it is poised to revolutionize the logistics industry, offering sustainable and efficient last-mile solutions for the growing demand in home deliveries. With its cutting-edge technology, focus on sustainability, and strategic expansion plans, Starship Technologies is well-positioned to meet the rising challenges in the delivery industry and reshape the future of last-mile logistics.
