London, Ontario’s Appetronix has purchased Vancouver’s Cibotica, another Canadian technology company developing robotics for restaurant kitchens.
The strategic deal, which closed in late March, was announced Tuesday morning. Both companies declined to disclose any of the financial terms of the deal to BetaKit. As this was an asset acquisition, no Cibotica employees are joining Appetronix as part of this transaction, Cibotica co-founder and CEO Ashkan Nabavi told BetaKit over email.
Appetronix said in a news release that the transaction expands its tech stack and “fast-tracks” its plans to expand its robot kitchen concepts beyond pizza-making and move into more locations like airports, entertainment venues, hospitals, and universities.
“Bringing [Cibotica] into the Appetronix family allows us to scale new cuisine formats faster.”
Nipun Sharma, Appetronix
“While our target business was different (Cibotica automates existing human kitchens, Appetronix develops fully autonomous stand-alone restaurants), there was a lot of overlap in the core tech,” Appetronix co-founder and CEO Nipun Sharma told BetaKit in an email. “Together we can attack both markets with far more powerful tech than any of our competitors in the market.”
Cibotica, which was launched in 2021, has developed an automated bowl and salad assembly system called Remy and a patented ingredient dispensing platform. The startup has already brought its tech to market with the help of small, Seattle-based chain Moto Pizza. To date, Cibotica has funded its operations through an undisclosed combination of angel investment, non-dilutive financing, and government grants.
Appetronix, which was previously known as SJW Robotics, has been building robots for commercial restaurants since 2020. It operates robotic kitchens in partnership with mid-sized US pizza chain Donatos, including a fully autonomous location at the Columbus International Airport. Over the coming months, Sharma said Appetronix plans to launch several more pizza robots, Asian stir fry robots, Mexican burrito bowl robots, and robot-run cafes. The firm has raised over $12 million in seed funding to date from AlleyCorp and the Grote family, which founded Donatos, including $6 million late last year.
The startup has raised over $12 million in seed funding to date from New York’s AlleyCorp; the Grote family, which founded Ohio-headquartered Donatos; Toronto’s N49P Ventures; and chef Tom Colicchio. This includes $6 million late last year.
“As two Canadian robotics companies operating in adjacent spaces, Cibotica and Appetronix had been in dialogue over the years, exchanging ideas and insights around food automation,” Nabavi said. “Over time, it became clear there was strong strategic alignment and an opportunity for Cibotica’s technology and [intellectual property] to continue advancing within a larger platform.”
Research firm IMARC Group expects the size of the global food robotics market to more than double by 2034 thanks to labour shortages, tech advances, stricter food safety laws, and demand for greater efficiency.
But, despite this, Appetronix says that successful exits in this space remain rare. The startup hopes its purchase of Cibotica advances its own aims while also illustrating the viability of building food robotics solutions.
“Bringing [Cibotica] into the Appetronix family allows us to scale new cuisine formats faster while demonstrating that the food robotics space can create meaningful exits for innovative founders,” Sharma said in the news release.
Feature image courtesy Appetronix.