Hyperplane Venture Capital is an investment firm focused on exceptional founders building machine intelligence and data companies. They partner with exceptional founders who are leveraging machine intelligence, sensor technology, and cloud computing to solve the world’s hardest problems uncovering the underlying structure for each problem and creating solutions at the nexus of perception, communication, intelligence, and insight. The company was founded by Vivjan Myrto, John Murphy and Brendan Kohler in 2015; and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Hyperplane

Contour Venture Partners invests in companies focused on information technology, and the application of innovative software solutions into the enterprise SaaS, vertical B2B SaaS and financial services sectors. The principals at Contour have a long and successful track record, having directly supported over 85 companies through numerous market cycles. We take great pride in the strong bonds we form with management teams, as this is a crucial ingredient to achieving long term milestones while also making the process engaging and enjoyable. We recognize it is the details and pursuit of flawless execution combined with the right long-term vision that makes a company great. We have the experience, intuition, judgment and industry expertise to ensure that the foundation is in place for management to build a great business with a sustainable competitive advantage.

Contour Venture Partners

Rho Capital Partners is the parent company to Rho's four operating divisions, [Rho Ventures](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/rho-ventures#/entity), [Rho Canada Ventures](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/rho-canada), [Rho Fund Investors](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/rho-fund-investors) and [Rho Acceleration](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/rho-acceleration).

Rho Capital Partners

NextView Ventures is a high-conviction, hands-on seed VC with a thematic investing focus. NextView Ventures invests in companies that use technology to drive a brighter collective future. This includes themes like healthy living, total footprint, economic access, and conversational computing.

NextView Ventures

The Graduate Syndicate is led by Jeff Bussgang, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School (HBS) and co-founder and general partner, Flybridge Capital Partners. They invest in pre-seed and seed stage startups led by recent graduates of Harvard, primarily HBS. In recent years, entrepreneurship has grown tremendously on campus and many valuable companies have been created by recent graduates. Their goal is to bring investors, students, graduates, and friends of Harvard together to build successful, impactful and sustainable companies

The Graduate Syndicate

Harlem Capital is an early-stage venture firm that invests in post-revenue tech-enabled startups, focused on minority and women founders. The firm invests in founders from all backgrounds and is committed to preserving capital for investments in minority and women founders. Their skill sets in finance, media, and entrepreneurship, along with their expansive network, allow them to provide the most value-add per invested dollar for early-stage companies.

Harlem Capital Partners

Alumni Ventures Group provides high-quality, diversified venture portfolios to individual investors who previously haven't had access to VC. It helps accredited alums from top entrepreneurial schools invest together in the ventures of fellow alums. The firm backs companies with an alumni connection and an institutional lead investor with expertise in the space. AVG also offers focused funds that allow any accredited investor access to a venture portfolio, diversified by type, sector, stage, and geography. Beth Obermiller, Michael Madden, and Mike Collins co-founded the firm in Manchester, New Hampshire in 2013.

Alumni Ventures

J Ventures is a venture capital firm. They move fast on decisions, are patient with growth timelines, and hustle to help entrepreneurs reach their goals.

J Ventures

Castor Ventures is an investment firm. Castor Ventures invests in a broad range of venture-backed companies to build diversified venture portfolios invested alongside established venture firms.

Castor Ventures

NFX operates as a pre-seed & seed stage investor that is transforming how true innovators are funded for entrepreneurs. They believe that creating something of true significance starts with seeing things others do not. As Founders, they reinvented industries with this mindset. As investors, their approach is no different. They do this by asking ourselves one question - ideally, how should the startup experience work for Founders, both NFX and the whole ecosystem. NFX lens is always through the eyes of the Founder. The firm approach is to first build an early-stage experience for all Founders that is powered by more software. Second, to bring the founders they back exponential yet little-known techniques for network effects and growth. Third, to make visible the typically seen methods of technology's most impactful companies. Having built 10 companies with more than $10 billion in exits across multiple industries and geographies, they're entrepreneurs first because they're entrepreneurs first. And they are determined to guard the backs of the next generation of fearless founders.

The MBA Fund is a VC fund and network of founders, executives and investors committed to mentoring and investing in leading early-stage, student and alumni founders. The firm was founded in 2018 by Josh Hoffman-Senn, Hiro Tien, Sieva Kozinsky and Hansae Catlett.

The MBA Fund

Dexai Robotics

Dexai automates activities in commercial kitchens and the food industry more broadly. The company specializes in the fields of robotics, machine vision, machine learning, AI, food service, automation, and restaurant equipment. Dexai was founded in 2018 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

<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.</div>

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

Restaurant Industry Robotics

Anthony Tayoun, Co-founder & COO of Dexai Robotics – Interview Series

<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>

<div>
 
 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&rsquo;s latest product line includes second-generation burger-flipping robot &ldquo;Flippy 2,&rdquo; high-volume chicken-wing-frying robot &ldquo;Flippy Wings,&rdquo; frying and seasoning robot &ldquo;Flippy Lite,&rdquo; beverage-dispensing robot &ldquo;Sippy,&rdquo; and its cooking platform &ldquo;CookRight.&rdquo;
 
 
 - 
 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&mdash;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%&ndash;20%. Both the models are equipped with its &ldquo;AutoBin&rdquo; system&mdash;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 &ldquo;CookRight Coffee,&rdquo; a coffee monitoring system powered by the platform in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9725">
 April 2022.
 </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&mdash;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 partnerships
 
 
 Miso Robotics&rsquo; 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 &ldquo;Chippy&rdquo; 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,
 </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.
 
 
 Funding and Financials
 
 
 Miso 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;
 
</div>

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

Dexai Robotics

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless