<ul><li>Bobacino, developer of a robotic boba tea bar, has extended its Series A equity crowdfunding round for new investors, targeting to raise USD 4 million. The company previously closed the round in October 2021, raising USD 1.4 million from 1,200+ investors.</ul>

• The new round values the company at USD 9 million, up from its previous valuation of USD 7 million in October.

• Bobacino plans to utilize the funds to complete the development of its beta prototype and deploy the same in public places. The company will use the feedback and other testing results of the beta launch for commercial production of the robotic bar.

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: Raising equity through crowdfunding is becoming increasingly popular in the restaurant industry robotics space. Startups that recently closed such campaigns include kitchen automation company Miso Robotics (November 2021), smoothie-making robotic kiosk developer Blendid ( September 2021), and pasta-making robot developer DaVinci Kitchen (July 2021). Furthermore, pizza-making robot developer Piestro opened a Series A crowdfunding campaign earlier in February, just four months after closing its previous crowdfunding campaign.</ul>