SoftBank (TYO: 9984), a Japanese multinational holding conglomerate, may invest $500 million to $750 million in Zume, a robotic pizza startup based in Silicon Valley, through its massive Vision Fund investment division. It is reported that Zume has already started licensing its technology to various restaurants and owns a patent for delivery trucks equipped with robots capable of cooking food during the drive to the customer so that it arrives fresh. The ovens are operated through a remote cloud signal and can activate on demand. This technology allows Zume to operate legally despite laws that prevent food trucks from preparing / cooking food while the vehicle is in motion. Zume is also looking into various opportunities to partners with companies that wish to provide freshly cooked food to customers.
SoftBank is looking to capitalize on the recent influx of robotics-based food companies, of which Zume is just one part. It is reported that the company also led a $535 million funding round for food delivery app DoorDash, and is currently in talks with Tesla. Softbank also has a 15% stake in UberEats, Uber's food delivery segment. Softbank is also the largest stakeholder in Uber overall. Zume could easily partner with UberEats and DoorDash. An additional round of funding from Softbank would significantly increase Zume's valuation. The company raised $48 million during Series B funding round in October 2017 and $23 million in Series A funding in December 2016.
SoftBank's investment in Zume indicates that robotics-based food companies, which carefully balance reduced labor costs and retaining some human capital, are trendy. Zume cofounder Alex Garden cautions that automation should be viewed as a means to help workers. This is directly visible in the company's new robot, dubbed Vincenzo, which takes hot pizzas from the oven and places them on delivery racks. This helps reduce the number of forearm burn incidents in the kitchen - crucial because one-third of occupation burns occur in restaurants. Garden also mentioned that robots will help workers be more social and productive by focusing their time and effort on more crucial and outward-facing aspects of the operation.