Starship Technologies has raised $50 million in a Series C funding round to expand its autonomous delivery operations across U.S. cities. The round was led by Plural, with participation from Karma.vc, Latitude, Coefficient Capital, SmartCap, and Skaala. The company has now secured more than $280 million in total funding.
Founded in 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, Starship Technologies operates a fleet of over 2,700 delivery robots across seven countries. The company reports that it has completed more than 9 million deliveries, covering over 12 million miles, and plans to expand its fleet to more than 12,000 robots by 2027.
Starship’s delivery robots currently operate in over 60 university campuses in the United States and more than 30 cities across Europe. The company plans to extend these operations to U.S. urban markets, building on its existing partnerships with platforms such as Grubhub in the U.S., and Bolt, Wolt, and Foodora in Europe.
According to Starship, its autonomous robots operate at Level 4 autonomy and have contributed to reducing carbon emissions by more than 650 tonnes through zero-emission deliveries in Europe. The company stated that the new capital will be used to expand its U.S. market presence, increase production capacity, and strengthen partnerships with retailers and delivery providers.
“Starship has quietly built the most successful autonomous technology company in the world,” said Taavet Hinrikus, Partner at Plural. “They’re already deployed, already profitable, and already changing how goods move through cities. We’ve doubled down on our investment because the team has proven they can scale globally, and the opportunity in American urban markets is enormous.” Starship Technologies was founded in 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis.
