With the latest development and intense research in AI, the future of automated robotic kitchens is not far away. Unmanned machines will soon help humans make food and deliveries in less time and effort. The prospect of more production in less time efficiently is sure a good investment, and startups in robotics are attracting investors.
Hashed, a blockchain-specialized investment company, recently announced its investment in the seed fund round of ‘Future Kitchen,’ an unmanned automated robot kitchen platform service. Hashed led the round with Nongshim, Nongshim Engineering, and Stonebridge Ventures. Korean startup Future Kitchen has raised a total of $3 billion.
Spin-off from Future Play to revolutionize the foodtech industry
Future Kitchen is a company established through Korean accelerator Future Play’s Company Building section. This is Future Play’s second company spin off after Future Beauty. Future Kitchen is preparing to build an automated system to innovate the production structure of the food market. Future Kitchen’s vision is to introduce the world’s first robot-produced and robot-delivered kitchen platform prototype design. in 2021.
Future Kitchen is also piloting ‘Chicken de Chef,’ a premium chicken delivery service in the Gangnam area. Chicken de Chef is verifying its marketability based on a recipe developed by Michelin Star Chef Jang Jin-mo. The startup plans to use the highest-grade animal welfare pure meat in all products, providing customers with healthy and delicious food.
Fund to accelerate R&D and introduce more products
According to data released by Korea’s National Statistical Office in February 2021, the current transaction value of delivery food service was about $15 billion or17.3 trillion won, a 536% increase from 2017 (2.732 trillion won about $2.4 billion). Future Kitchen’s unmanned robot kitchen service can efficiently respond to multiple orders for delivery food and is expected to maximize taste quality and customer satisfaction by guaranteeing high processing speed and productivity.
With the seed fund, Future Kitchen is accelerating the establishment of R&D facilities and recruitment of talent. In addition, the company plans to gradually expand its business area to include a variety of delivery foods such as pizza.
Kim Hyun-cheol, co-CEO of Future Kitchen, said, “Considering the global business expansion in the future, we plan to build a system in cooperation with Nongshim and Nongshim Engineering for cooperation such as food material supply and unmanned kitchen design, respectively. We will grow into a food tech company that best understands convenience.”
Hashed CEO Seo-Jun Kim said, “Because recipes do not have a copyright concept, it was difficult for the top chefs’ food to be exposed to the public. We anticipate that Future Kitchen will realize a protocol economy in which recipes of top chefs and food creators are also copyrighted and rewarded fairly according to the amount of cooking.”
Founded in early 2014, Future Play focuses on funding early-stage tech startups and has invested in sectors including food tech, robotics, edutech, multimedia, blockchain, etc. Hashed is a global, early-stage venture fund focused on backing founders who are pioneering the future of blockchain and cryptocurrency, based in Seoul and Silicon Valley.
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