Pudu Technology Inc. today announced the completion of a Series B financing round of more than $15 million. Zhang Tao, CEO of Pudu Robotics, said the funding will be used to develop products, grow sales, explore new use cases, and expand overseas marketing.

Shenzhen, China-based Pudu Robotics designs, develops, and produces indoor delivery robots. The company was founded in 2016 and has more than 100 employees between Shenzhen and Chengdu, China. Research and development accounts for more than half of its staff. Pudu said it experienced rapid growth last year and claimed that it is “the leading food delivery robot provider.”

Pudu Robotics products

Pudu Robotics said its products combine low-speed automatic driving, robotics motors, and motion control. The company has applied for hundreds of core patents, with key patents accounting for more than 60% of the total. PuduBot won the 2017 “Best of the Best” Red Dot Award, one of the world’s most prestigious awards in the design industry.

PuduBot, the company’s first mass-produced model, has been widely used in restaurants, hotels, office buildings, hospitals, Internet cafes, and karaoke bars, with customers in over 200 cities in more than 20 countries, said Pudu.

The company’s products include PuduBot and BellaBot for food delivery, HoloBot for deliveries in offices, HolaBot for dish returns, and GazeBot for deliveries in locations such as restaurants and airports. It recently added Puductor for disinfection.

Pudu’s hospitality and waiter robots include Intel Corp.’s RealSense cameras, and they were among the first service robots used in more than 100 hospitals as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response.

Meituan looks to digitize service industry

Meituan-Dianping was the exclusive investor in Pudu’s Series B. The Beijing-based company focuses on catering and supports businesses through supply-side digitization to accelerate the online transformation of the service industry. Meituan is reportedly worth $1 trillion HKD ($130 million U.S.). Pudu Robotics previously raised $7 million (U.S.) in Series A funding in 2018.

Meituan and Pudu Robotics said the latest funding round will allow both companies to combine their respective strengths to explore and expand the benefits of service robots to people’s daily lives. PuduTech and Meituan said they also have plans for future collaboration in the field of robotics and catering service digitization.