Service robot maker Bear Robotics raises $81 mn in Series B

South Korea’s robotics startup Bear Robotics Inc. announced Wednesday it raised $81 million in Series B funding from venture capital heavyweights.

Seoul-based IMM Private Equity led this round of funding, joined by the investment arm of KT Corp. dubbed KT Investment Inc., Smilegate Investment Inc. and DSC Investment Inc. 

US food tech venture capital firm and accelerator Cleveland Avenue also participated in the Series B funding round. A former McDonald's chief executive founded the Chicago-based firm in 2015.

The accumulated funding amount for Bear now exceeds $113 million. In 2022, Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank led the startup’s Series A, in which the robotics company received $32 million. 

GLOBAL ADOPTION

Bear began mass producing its serving robot named Servi in South Korea two years ago.

Through sales and strategic partnerships, the Servi robots have delivered 28 million meals over a combined 539,130 kilometers in distance in Korea, Japan, and the United States.

In Korea, bakery chain behemoth Paris Croissant and family restaurant chains like TGI Fridays, VIPS, and On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina are using the robots. In neighboring Japan, the robots are found at barbecue franchise Yakiniku King thanks to its backer SoftBank. 

Over in the US, Bear partnered with casual dining chain Chili's Grill & Bar, diner franchise Denny’s and the Marriott hotel brand to name a few. 

PRODUCT DIVERSIFICATION

Bear Robotics plans to diversify its product lineup and expand its reach beyond Korea, Japan, and the US. 

At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) held a few weeks ago in Barcelona, the startup introduced a new robot it developed with telecom giant KT Corp. 

The Seoul and Bay Area-based company is on a hiring spree across multiple sectors; namely autonomous driving, robotics and artificial intelligence. The startup has some 200 employees in Korea and the US. 

The need for a serving robot came to its founder John Ha while working in the restaurant business.

He was a research scientist at Intel prior to becoming a technical lead at Alphabet Inc.'s Google. In recent years, he opened and closed a tofu soup restaurant as a side job. 

The founder said he wanted to relieve those in the restaurant business of repetitive tasks in order to focus on providing good food and service.

Its main product Servi uses LiDAR sensor and three-dimensional camera to detect its surroundings and deliver the service items to the table through autonomous driving. 

“I hope to create a dining experience where the food and service, more than the robots, move the customers,” Ha said. 

The founder and CEO added Bear will continue to provide products that help people using self-driving technology beyond the hospitality market. 

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang at hjs@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.