Bear Robotics To Aid Hospitality Labor Shortage After Completion of $81M Series B

The hospitality industry is currently struggling to hire new employees in the middle of the ravaging pandemic. Nonetheless, it is an opportune time for startups who are always eager to find solutions for the problems being faced by the public. This is where Bear Robotics found its opportunity to strive and even capture the attention of investors who can trust the company’s promising robotic projects. One is the new investor IMM that led a round of funding together with Cleveland Avenue, LLC and other existing investors.

“We now have some great news that will propel our next stage of growth,” says Bear Robotics on its page. “ We are proud to announce completion of a $81 million Series B round of funding. This is a huge step that will enhance our top-notch engineering capabilities and expand our solutions across the world. We wanted to celebrate this success by acknowledging some of the biggest accomplishments that led us to this moment.”

The addition of the said round and the $32M Series A funding round in January 2020 led by SoftBank translate to the company’s $117M total funding today. With this, the company aspires to boost the project further to address the automation needs in the hospitality market. Currently, it has a partnership with Chili’s, Compass Group, Denny’s, Marriott, and Pepsi.

“Having started my own restaurant years ago, I learned firsthand just how hard things could get,” said John Ha, Bear Robotics CEO and Founder. “I thought there must be a way to automate some of these repetitive tasks without losing what makes a restaurant great. That’s why we created Servi. It’s a solution meant to enhance the experience of customers, employees, and operators. While others are trying to fully automate work, we’re trying to elevate the future of work for stakeholders in this industry that keep it going each day.”

Currently, Bear Robotics offers Servi, its flagship product using state-of-the-art technology that allows it to efficiently serve as an automated waiter in restos. There are two models for the robot: the Servi and the Servi Mini. The former offers high capacity and multi-purpose function, while the latter is meant for specific tasks like bar running, drink delivery, and bussing. Nonetheless, both possess the Bear Robotics features that make them effective as serving robots in businesses. Some of those are the advanced LiDar sensor and multiple cameras for safe self-navigation, Multi-robot Mode, 12-hour battery life, and Auto Return.

On the other hand, while the company promises to use the fund to add new products to its portfolio, it also plans to hire new talents that can further contribute to the promising tech the team has already established.