Insider Brief
- Starship Technologies raised $50 million led by Plural, bringing total funding to $280+ million to scale autonomous delivery from European cities and U.S. campuses into American urban markets.
- The company reports 9 million+ deliveries across seven countries, operates at Level 4 autonomy with positive gross margins, and claims a city-scale logistics network backed by a continuously growing dataset.
- Partnerships with Grubhub (U.S.) and European platforms including Bolt, Wolt, and Foodora position Starship as an autonomous last-mile backbone as it expands its robot fleet and U.S. footprint.
PRESS RELEASE – Starship Technologies, the undisputed global leader in autonomous delivery with over 9 million deliveries across seven nations, announced the successful completion of a $50 million funding round led by Plural. The company, founded by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, has now raised more than $280 million in total funding to replicate its success in European cities and U.S. university campuses across American urban markets.
Starship operates at absolute commercial scale with a track record no competitor can match. Having proven autonomous delivery works across multiple European urban markets and U.S. university campuses, the company is now positioned to transform American urban logistics. With 9 million deliveries completed and robots making 2 autonomous road crossings per second, Starship has amassed an unmatched dataset that continuously improves safety, routing, and reliability. While competitors run pilot programs, Starship operates a proven logistics network that demonstrates how autonomous delivery works at city scale.
“Delivery robotics is the next wave of urban logistics, shaping a once-in-a-generation shift in how goods move through cities,” said Ahti Heinla, co-founder and CEO of Starship Technologies. “We own European urban markets, we own U.S. campuses. Now it’s time to replicate this proven success in American cities. Millions of U.S. consumers will soon experience sub-30-minute delivery by Starship robots as the new standard.”
Starship pioneered autonomous delivery in 2014 and has maintained its lead ever since. The company solved the challenges that still block competitors – safety validation, regulatory approval across seven countries, all-weather reliability, and profitability at scale. Operating at Level 4 autonomy, Starship’s AI technology leadership has enabled it to scale far faster than competitors while maintaining positive gross margins, as autonomous deliveries are significantly more cost-efficient than traditional delivery methods. Starship isn’t racing toward commercial viability; it’s already there.
Starship has not only achieved market leadership through its track record, but is taking visionary steps by integrating with the world’s largest last-mile delivery providers. The company’s partnerships with Grubhub in the U.S., alongside European platforms including Bolt, DoorDash’s Wolt and Delivery Hero’s Foodora, position Starship as the autonomous delivery backbone that is powering leading apps.
“Starship has quietly built the most successful autonomous technology company in the world,” said Taavet Hinrikus, Partner at Plural. “They’re already deployed, already profitable, and already changing how goods move through cities. We’ve doubled down on our investment because the team has proven they can scale globally, and the opportunity in American urban markets is enormous.”
The funding round includes participation from Plural, Karma.vc, Latitude, Coefficient Capital, SmartCap (funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU), and Skaala. The capital will accelerate U.S. market penetration, expand the robot fleet, and strengthen partnerships with major retailers seeking proven autonomous delivery infrastructure.
Image credit: Starship Technologies
