Aniai, a startup that built a burger-grilling robot, Alpha Grill, said today that it has raised $12 million, bringing its total raise to $15 million. The money will be used to start its first production facility, Factory One, in South Korea. The company will also develop a cloud-based AI software platform for the robot called Alpha Cloud.
The adoption of robots in the restaurant business is becoming popular can help restaurants address high pain points such as labor shortages and rising wage issues. Robotics allows restaurants to save 30% to 70% on labor costs, and restaurants could replace more than 80% of restaurant seats with robots, according to a research report.
“Burger chains hire six to eight kitchen staff per shift to grill burgers,” said Aniai CEO Gunpil Hwang. “Alpha Grill enables restaurants to hire just one staff member to grill burgers.”
The New York-based startup says it will launch Factory One this year to meet growing market demand for the Alpha Grill, with about 500 pre-orders for delivery from the first quarter of 2024. Its production facility will be able to produce more of 1,000 robots per year. The company’s double-sided Alpha Grill, launched in 2022, can cook 200 burgers per hour, or eight burgers at once (after human staff place them on a grill).
Cloud-based AI software and a real-time vision sensor will allow Alpha Grill to sense the environment, recognize the color of burgers on a grill, and monitor the temperature, shape and quality of the burgers. If the user’s burger does not meet their cooking recipes, specifications and requirements, Alpha Grill immediately notifies the cooking staff to ensure quality control.
The startup is currently developing its second product, Alpha Kitchen, Hwang told TechCrunch. With an expected launch in 2025, Alpha Kitchen will be able to automate the entire burger-making process, from cooking the burger and toasting the buns to dispensing vegetables and other ingredients.
Aniai currently serves seven clients, including fast-food burger chains in South Korea, CJ Freshway, BAS Burger and DownTowner. It has also been testing Alpha Grill with burger chains in the US since last year. The outfit says it will also use the latest chapter is accelerating its expansions into the US and South Korea.
Aniai is part of it a growing kitchen automation industry. Other companies in this space include; Miso Robotics, which is behind Flippy, a burger flipping robot. Botinkit, a cooking robot manufacturer in China. and Robotics Chef in San Francisco.
InterVest led the latest funding alongside new investors SV Investment, the UK’s Ignite Innovation and a previous backer, Capstone Partners.
The startup, founded in 2020, had 30 employees as of December 2023.
