Coco Robotics, a Santa Monica-based startup specializing in delivery robots, has raised US$80 million in a funding round.

The round was led by SNR, with support from Pelion Venture Partners, Offline Ventures, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his brother, Max Altman.

This brings the total funding to over US$110 million since its founding in 2020.

The company operates 1,300 electric delivery robots in cities like Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Helsinki, and partners with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and local merchants.

In March, Coco Robotics partnered with OpenAI to integrate its technology into robot navigation and obstacle avoidance.

Delivery trip data is shared with OpenAI, though Sam Altman was not involved in the deal.

The new funding will be used to improve technology and expand the fleet to at least 10,000 robots by 2026.

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🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Autonomous delivery follows a predictable technology maturation curve

Coco Robotics’ evolution from fully remote-operated robots to ones that “drive autonomously in most situations” reflects a standard pattern across the delivery robotics industry.

This mirrors competitor Starship Technologies’ journey, which now claims 99% autonomous operations after beginning with significant remote oversight in their early deployments 1.

Similarly, Serve Robotics (a Postmates spin-off) has reported over 80% effectiveness in Level 4 autonomy operations, showing how the entire sector follows a pattern of gathering real-world data before advancing automation capabilities 1.

The industry’s focus on achieving reliable autonomy directly addresses the economics of last-mile delivery, as human teleoperator costs significantly impact profitability margins.

2️⃣ Last-mile delivery robotics emerges as a high-growth investment category

The $80 million investment in Coco Robotics comes amid substantial growth projections for the autonomous delivery sector, which was valued at $300 million in 2021 and is expected to grow at a 30.3% CAGR through 2030 2.

This funding round positions Coco to compete directly with established players like Starship (which completed millions of deliveries) and Nuro (partnered with major retailers like Kroger and Walmart) in a rapidly consolidating market 3.

The involvement of AI pioneer Sam Altman signals increasing integration between robotics and artificial intelligence, as evidenced by Coco’s partnership with OpenAI to improve navigation and obstacle recognition capabilities 4.

Major platforms like Uber and DoorDash are integrating with multiple robotics providers rather than building their own, indicating a potential industry structure where specialized robotics companies handle the hardware complexity while platforms focus on customer relationships 4.

With Coco targeting 10,000 robots by 2026 (up from their current 1,300), the company is betting on economies of scale to improve unit economics in what has historically been a challenging last-mile delivery market 5.

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