Zume

Zume, Inc., formerly Zume Pizza, is an American company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Founded in 2015 by Alex Garden and Julia Collins as an automated pizza delivery company, the company announced in January 2020 that it was ending pizza production and changing focus to food packaging and provision of automated production and delivery systems to food producers.

Zume, Inc.
Private
IndustryManufacturing, Food technology, Food delivery, Automation, Food packaging
Founded2015 (2015)
FoundersAlex Garden
Julia Collins
Headquarters250 Polaris Avenue, Mountain View, California, United States
ProductsFace Masks, Packaging
Websitezume.com

Pizza business

Zume Pizza was founded in 2015[1] by Chairman and CEO Alex Garden[2][3] and Julia Collins.[4][5] Started in an industrial building in Mountain View, California, by January 2020 it had expanded deliveries throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and also had offices in San Francisco and in Seattle, Washington.

The company used robots for many stages of pizza production.[6][7] Initially, humans shaped the pizza dough and added toppings; as of September 2016 the pizzas were cooked en route in a van equipped with 56 GPS-equipped automated ovens, timed to be ready shortly before arrival at the address, and then sliced by a self-cleaning robot cutter.[4][5][8] The company secured a patent on the cooking of food during delivery,[9][10] which includes predictive algorithms to anticipate customer choices, and planned to partner with other businesses to also provide other robot-prepared meal components, such as salads and desserts.[10]

Zume was successful in raising capital.[11] The company is reported to have raised $6 million in Series A investment funding in 2016, some from Jerry Yang[9] and some from SignalFire, a venture capital firm that identifies investment opportunities using machine learning.[7] In fall 2017, Zume Pizza raised $48 million in Series B funding.[12] In November 2018, the company raised $375 million from SoftBank, giving it a valuation of $2.25 billion.[13] In late 2019, some investors believed it was worth up to $4 billion.[11]

In April 2018, the company announced that it would be expanding beyond pizza and planned to begin licensing its automation technology.[14] It subsequently also began selling food packaging; it holds patents for sustainable pizza boxes.[11]

Rebranding

In early January 2020, Zume announced that it was ending pizza production and refocusing the company as a provider of packaging and automated production and delivery systems to other food companies; the changes entailed laying off 53% of the company's workforce,[11][15] and potentially more.[16]

References
  1. "Zume Pizza: Tech start-up that uses robots to make pizza raises nearly $50mn". FDF World.com. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  2. Maze, Jonathan (November 2, 2018). "Robotic pizza-maker Zume raises $375M". Restaurant Business. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  3. Silver, Curtis (June 27, 2016). "Zume's Robot-Made Pizza Asks: You Want A Piece Of This?". Forbes (blog). Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  4. Kendall, Marissa (September 29, 2016). "Zume Pizza: Made by robots, baked in delivery truck". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  5. Entis, Laura; Baran, Jonathan (September 29, 2016). "This Robot-Made Pizza Is Baked in the Van on the Way to Your Door". Fortune. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  6. Zaleski, Olivia (June 24, 2016). "Inside Silicon Valley's Robot Pizzeria". Bloomberg. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  7. Mannes, John (September 1, 2016). "Robots and on-board ovens deliver on Zume's promise of better pizza". TechCrunch.
  8. Savvides, Lexxy (November 4, 2016). "See inside a robot pizza factory". CNET. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  9. "Pie in the sky: Technology firms may struggle to disrupt the food business". The Economist. November 26, 2016. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  10. Elgan, Mike (December 24, 2016). "Software is eating the food world". Computerworld (opinion). Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  11. Noack, Mark (January 17, 2020). "Zume Pizza lays off 172 workers in Mountain View". Mountain View Voice. pp. 5, 15.
  12. "A look at 42 women in tech who crushed it in 2017". TechCrunch. December 22, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  13. "Robot pizza maker reportedly takes $375 million investment from SoftBank". CNBC. November 2, 2018. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
  14. Heater, Brian (April 25, 2018). "Zume looks to life beyond pizza". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  15. Bosa, Deirdre (January 8, 2020). "SoftBank-backed Zume is laying off half its staff and shuttering its pizza delivery business". CNBC. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  16. Ajmera, Ankit (January 6, 2020). "SoftBank-backed Zume Pizza to lay off up to 80% of its staff: Business Insider". Reuters. Retrieved January 7, 2020.


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