At Velocity Ventures, we invest in visionary entrepreneurs who are reshaping the Travel & Hospitality sector in Southeast Asia. We focus on Seed to Series A stage growth companies across the Transportation, Travel Services, Accommodation, Food & Beverage and Retail & Experiences sub-sectors. Our team consists of a unique mix of Travel & Hospitality sector specialists & successful entrepreneurs with 13 decades of combined operating and investing experience, coupled with a deep, value-added network in Asia.   If you are the founder of a growing start-up with great potential in the Travel & Hospitality sector in SE Asia, please get in touch at reachus@velocityventures.vc.

Velocity Ventures

Surround Ventures is the home for Israeli technology startups in the media, entertainment, sports, and e-commerce sectors. Our team is committed to empowering our portfolio companies with strategic insights and access to the most relevant executives, entrepreneurs, and investors.

Surround Ventures

Hyper Food Robotics

Hyper is an innovative company committed to reinventing the fast food industry by introducing a fully autonomous self-contained robotic store-factory hybrid capable of providing fresh, flavorful, healthy, and safe fast food that meets the demands of both the industry and the consumer. Hyper’s ground-breaking concept will propel the industry forward and shape its future.

Hyper Food Robotics is an Israeli startup co-founded by Pizza Hut Israel CEO Udi Shamai. The company develops automated robotic restaurants handling pizzas, burgers, salads, bakery items, Asian food, and ice cream preparations. It uses two robotic arms, 120 sensors, and 20 artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cameras for operation. The company pitches its solutions primarily to fast-food delivery chains, restaurants, and ghost kitchens.

Helping restaurants become more safe, more profitable, and more interesting.

Restaurant Industry Robotics

Hyper Food Robotics is an Israeli startup co-founded by Pizza Hut Israel CEO Udi Shamai. The company develops automated robotic restaurants handling pizzas, burgers, salads, bakery items, Asian food, and ice cream preparations. It uses two robotic arms, 120 sensors, and 20 artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cameras for operation. The company pitches its solutions primarily to fast-food delivery chains, restaurants, and ghost kitchens.<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6337">In November 2021, </a>the company launched its first automated restaurant concept—a containerized robotic pizza restaurant. The unit can prepare 50 pies per hour and is equipped with three convection ovens, a conveyor belt system, an automatic slicer, and a boxing system. It also has 30 pizza warming cabinets, built-in cold storage that can hold up to 240 varieties of dough, two robotic dispensing arms, and dispensers for up to 12 toppings.The company opened its first robotic restaurant at a Pizza Hut in Bnei Dror, Israel <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8030">in January 2022.</a>In October 2022 , Hyper raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from the Singapore-based venture capital firm Velocity Ventures.

<div>
 
 Dexai Robotics developed a robotic arm known as “Alfred” that works as a flexible food-preparation assistant using artificial intelligence and computer vision technologies. Alfred is a plug-and-play solution for restaurants and can be used to prepare salads and food bowls, without any alteration to restaurants’ layouts or recipes. The robot debuted in the 2019 Web Summit in Portugal, serving  2,500+ attendees over the course of two days. The company offers its services on a robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) basis, where customers are charged a flat fee for dishes the robot prepares.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 The company has partnerships with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to install the robots at 10 military locations across the US 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8680">
 (February 2022)
 </a>
 and with Boston-based Mediterranean restaurant Bonapita to deploy its robot to prepare salads and other food bowls at the latter’s restaurant 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10059">
 (April 2022).
 </a>
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In August 2022, Dexai Robotics 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12258">
 raised USD 6.7 million
 </a>
 in funding. Previously in March 2020, it raised USD 5.5 million in a seed funding round led by Hyperplane Venture Capita to expand its engineering, sales, and product teams.
 
</div>

Dexai Robotics

Miso Robotics offers a range of kitchen automation solutions and a software platform that powers its robots (the latter as a standalone service). The company’s latest product line includes second-generation burger-flipping robot “Flippy 2,” high-volume chicken-wing-frying robot “Flippy Wings,” frying and seasoning robot “Flippy Lite,” beverage-dispensing robot “Sippy,” and its cooking platform “CookRight.”- Flippy 2 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6360">(introduced in November 2021) </a>can load, fry, and place the items in a hot holding area without assistance and can handle up to 60 baskets per hour—a 30% increase compared to its original version. This is the latest version of the original Flippy introduced in 2018, which had a price tag of USD 60,000 and was later reduced to USD 30,000 with the introduction of the upgraded Flippy ROAR (robot on a rail) that places the Flippy robot arm on an inverted rail, enabling it to move along a line of kitchen equipment.- Flippy Wings ( <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6135">introduced in October 2021) </a>is a robotic chicken wing frying solution. It identifies the food using AI vision technology, and can pick it up, cook, and drop the food into a hot holding area. The company reports that the robot increases food production speeds by 10%–20%. Both the models are equipped with its “AutoBin” system—an array of customizable food-safe bins into which the food is dropped to be cooked.- Flippy Lite (introduced in March 2022) focuses on a single product that needs seasoning and finishing.- Sippy <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/2556">(announced in June 2021) </a>is a beverage dispensing robot developed in partnership with beverage dispensers manufacturer Lancer Worldwide and is equipped with a fully-automated conveyor system that moves cups along the Sippy unit to dispense drinks. Sippy directly integrates with a point-of-sale system, which triggers the beverage-making process including selecting the appropriate sized cup and pouring and sealing the drink while ensuring appropriate delivery of orders.- CookRight (launched in May 2021) is an AI and machine learning-driven cooking platform that includes a user interface tablet, two cameras, and a small computer. CookRight focuses on grill-based cooking and is capable of tracking food items on a grill for precision-level cooking and sends alerts to kitchen staff when an action is needed. The platform is also capable of managing the food serving workflow to ensure freshness and correct assembly of orders. Miso Robotics also launched “CookRight Coffee,” a coffee monitoring system powered by the platform in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9725">April 2022.&nbsp;</a>As of April 2022, the company had commercialized its Flippy 2 robots, while Flippy Wings, Flippy Lite, and Sippy were available for reservation. Its products are available on a robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) basis—Flippy and Flippy 2 Wings are offered to customers starting at USD 3,000 per month (fees related to other products were not made available as of April 2022). The CookRight platform is offered as a standalone software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering for restaurants at a monthly subscription of USD 100.Key customers and partnershipsMiso Robotics’ partners to deploy its various robotic offerings include <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8509">White Castle, </a>CaliBurger, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Chase Field in Phoenix, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/2541">Brooklyn Dumpling Shop </a>, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9156">Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants </a>(a customized version dubbed “Chippy” to cook tortilla chips), <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6135">Inspire Brands-owned </a>Buffalo Wild Wings and Alliance Kitchen, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9725">Panera Bread, </a><a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9940">Jack in the Box, </a><a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10692">Wing Zone,&nbsp;</a> &nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11139">Americana Restaurants, </a>and <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11567">Wings and Rings. </a>In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25118">December 2023 </a>, Miso Robotics partnered with restaurant technology company Cali Group and PopID, a developer of identity verification solutions, to launch an automated restaurant named CaliExpress in Pasadena, California.The company also has a June 2022 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10929">partnership with Amazon Web Services </a>(AWS) to test its software powering Flippy 2 and Flippy Lite at scale, using AWS RoboMaker, a cloud-based simulation service and an&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/35619">October 2024</a> partnership with NVIDIA to integrate accelerated computing and robotics technologies into its next-generation Flippy Fry Stations.Funding and FinancialsMiso Robotics reported revenues of USD 253,000 during the year ended December 2020 (up 153% YoY) but has yet to reach profitability. The company opened its Series E funding round <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8185">in February 2022, </a>aiming to raise USD 40 million at a valuation of USD 500 million. The round, having raised USD 20+ million, was <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12340">extended in August 2022 </a>to scale up its commercial manufacturing and international operations. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18705">May 2023 </a>, Miso Robotics received a multi-million dollar investment from Ecolab, a global provider of water, hygiene, and energy technologies. The company intends to utilize the funds to support operational growth and innovation.&nbsp;

Miso Robotics

MiFood designs and manufactures a fully automated robotic chef for restaurants that can prepare burgers and hotdogs. The company has offices in Spain, Poland, and the US.

MiFood

Endurance is a Russian-American technology startup offering robots, lasers, and chatbots. Under its robotics solutions, it provides customer-based robotics systems such as telepresence systems, robot waiters, and truckbots.

Endurance

<div>
 
 Blendid (also known as 6d bytes) offers a smoothie-making robotic kiosk that uses machine learning and computer vision to blend fruit drinks. The system is a plug-and-play solution that can be set up on-site in food-service operations. The kiosk comes with a robotic arm, blenders, refrigerators, and dispensers to store and dispense ingredients. It can produce up to 45 drinks per hour and nine drinks simultaneously. Customers can place orders via its mobile app or Blendid tablets, and the robot generally prepares the drink in under two minutes for a price of USD 5&ndash;USD 6 (for a 12-ounce drink). Blendid&rsquo;s kiosks operate at universities, retail outlets such as 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/2529">
 Walmart,
 </a>
 and at juice maker Jamba&rsquo;s co-branded locations including Walmart stores, a shopping mall, a university,
 a 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15502">
 hospital
 </a>
 and 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11829">
 Love&rsquo;s Travel Stop locations
 </a>
 in California, as well as 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8519">
 two universities in Georgia.
 </a>
 
 
 As per the company, it has generated USD 149,624 in total revenue since inception, with USD 64,449 generated in FY2020 (ending October 31st). However, annual net losses have been in the USD 3-USD 4 million range during FY2018-FY2020. Salary and benefits accounted for around half of total operating expenses in FY2020, while non-payroll research and development&rsquo;s (R&amp;D&rsquo;s) share of operating expenses had declined to less than 20% from almost 50% in 2018. As of October 31st, 2020, the company had USD 2.1 million in cash on hand and an average quarterly burn rate of USD 910,000
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5410">
 .
 </a>
 
 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/5410">
 In September 2021,
 </a>
 Blendid raised USD 2 million through equity crowdfunding at a valuation of almost USD 50 million. The company intended to utilize the funds to fast track its geographical expansion into Southern California and Georgia by opening in a range of locations including malls, airports, hospitals, universities, and retail outlets.
 
</div>

Blendid

Robotic solutions for restaurant services such as waiting tables, bussing tables, dishwashing, kitchen preparation, food quality check, and staff training.

Robots that pick, place, slice, and butcher fruits, vegetables, meats and other food products. Also includes companies that develop robots for picking, placement, and dispensing of processed foods (ex: cake decorating).

Robotic solutions for pizza, burger and hotdog preparation.

Robotic solutions for salad and food bowl (pasta, ramen etc) preparation.

Robotic solutions for coffee, tea, soda, and smoothie preparation.

The majority of companies in the industry use robotics technology

Some companies in the industry uses AI and ML-based robotic solutions

Hyper Food Robotics

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