Sidewalk delivery robot maker Starship Technologies will wind down its operations on U.S. university campuses and shift its focus to retail grocery chains and hot food delivery in cities across Europe and the U.S.
The Estonian firm’s six-wheeled, suitcase-sized robots have become familiar sights on college campuses, as they navigate quads, crowds, and sidewalks to furnish hungry students with online snack orders.
However, the grocery delivery sector could be a much bigger market. Starship’s grocery delivery operations are currently on a 10x growth trajectory over the next two years; in Finland alone, the company has already reached approximately 20% market penetration, meaning that roughly one in five grocery deliveries is now completed by a Starship robot. And according to the firm, its robots deliver groceries at a cost $3-4 lower per delivery than traditional courier fulfilment.
In order to duplicate that success in the U.S., Starship will redeploy over 1,200 robots from its U.S. campus fleet to support grocery retailers. The firm also said it will announce grocery retailer partnerships in the coming months.
“We’re seeing a lot of traction for delivery robots across numerous industries including industrial, universities, and corporate, but it’s time for us to focus on the vertical we feel will have the most value, both for our clients and for Starship,” said Ahti Heinla, CEO and co-founder of Starship Technologies.
“We built something remarkable on US campuses, and we’re proud of that work. When we started in 2018, operating in closed, controlled environments was the right foundation: it gave us the operational depth and real-world delivery data that no lab could provide. Now we can operate reliably at scale in open urban environments, which is exactly what grocery delivery demands,” Heinla said.
