London, Ontario’s Appetronix has purchased Vancouver’s Cibotica, another Canadian technology company developing robotics for restaurant kitchens. The financial terms of the strategic acquisition, which was announced Tuesday morning, were not disclosed.
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.
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.
“Bringing [Cibotica] into the Appetronix family allows us to scale new cuisine formats faster.”
Nipun Sharma, Appetronix
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. 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.
In thea news release, Cibotica co-founder and chair Soroush Sefidkar said that Appetronix’s track record with Donatos “proved they can execute.” He argued that this transaction will help Cibotica’s dispensing tech “reach its full potential.”
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,” Appetronix co-founder and CEO Nipun Sharma said in the news release.
Feature image courtesy Appetronix.
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