S.Korean kitchen robot startup Wave attracts $3 mn investment

South Korea's kitchen robot startup Wave Lifestyle Technologies announced on Tuesday that it has raised a Series A1 investment of 4 billion won ($3 million). The company plans to continue the investment round until the second half of this year, concluding with a total Series A investment of up to 10 billion won ($7.6 million).

The investors in the latest round include Shinhan Venture Investment, Signite Partners, Lighthouse Combined Investment, SpringCamp and new investor Shinhan Capital. The cumulative amount of investment raised by the company is about 10 billion won ($7.6 million).

Investors highly praised Wave's cooking robot technology as well as the uniqueness of its robot-as-a-service (RaaS), which provides comprehensive kitchen operation services through robots. Wave's RaaS allows foodservice brands to increase their scale through Wave's robot kitchens without setting up separate kitchen facilities. It has the advantage of reducing labor and overhead costs while maintaining consistent quality.

Wave recently signed a business agreement with the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia, becoming the first domestic robot company to expand its business in the region. The company plans to develop its food tech business in the Middle East and North Africa, including Neom City in Saudi Arabia.

"With this investment, we will enhance our in-house robot system and supply kitchen robots to the global market, including the Middle East and the United States, creating digital innovation in the foodservice industry," CEO of Wave Kim Beom-jin said .

Founded in 2018, Wave changed its name from AvocadoLab last year. It provides RaaS, a robot-based kitchen operation service and sells kitchen automation robots through its proprietary robots and artificial intelligence technology for kitchen management.

Wave's kitchen automation robots include dispenser modules, oven robots, frying robots, noodle-making robots, sauté robots and robot-controlling software.

Write to Lan Heo at why@hankyung.com