In San Francisco, a robotics company named XRobotics is gaining attention for its latest kitchen assistant — the xPizza Cube. This pizza-making robot, roughly the size of a stacked washing machine, uses machine learning technology to quickly and accurately spread sauce, cheese, and sausage onto pizza bases. Each machine has a monthly rental fee of $1,300, with a three-year contract, capable of producing up to 100 pizzas in an hour. Additionally, the xPizza Cube can be customized for different sizes and styles of pizza, such as Detroit-style and deep-dish Chicago pizzas.
Denis Rodionov, co-founder and CEO of XRobotics, stated that using this robot could save employees 70% to 80% of their working time. He emphasized that many steps in making pizza are repetitive; for example, placing 50 slices of sausage on a single sausage pizza is where robots excel.
XRobotics is not the first company to introduce robots into the food industry. Zume, a well-known pizza robotics company, once received over $420 million in venture capital but transitioned to sustainable packaging in 2020 and ceased operations entirely in 2023. Rodionov believes that XRobotics succeeded because they didn’t try to completely overhaul the pizza-making process but instead developed technology to help existing pizza makers save time and labor.
During the product development phase, XRobotics encountered numerous challenges. The company was founded in 2019 and released its first robot in 2021. However, due to its large size and overly complex functions, it ultimately failed to succeed. During real-world restaurant pilots, they realized the need for a smaller, more compact solution. Therefore, they launched the current version in 2023 and achieved significant success. Currently, the company has not disclosed the number of clients but mentioned that their robots produce approximately 25,000 pizzas per month.
Recently, XRobotics completed a seed funding round of $2.5 million, led by FinSight Ventures, with participation from SOSV, MANA Ventures, and Republic Capital. Rodionov stated that this funding will be used to produce more equipment and install additional robots in customer restaurants. In the future, the company plans to expand into Mexico and Canada.
Rodionov concluded by saying that he and his co-founders all love pizza and have tested various types in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago. He particularly enjoys Detroit-style pizza, known for its square shape and crispy cheese edges.
Key Points:
🍕 The xPizza Cube pizza-making robot by XRobotics can produce 25,000 pizzas per month, significantly improving restaurant efficiency.
💰 The company has secured $2.5 million in seed funding to expand production and client installations.
🌍 XRobotics plans to expand into Mexico and Canada in the future, further capturing the market.
