Otto Robotics To Automate Food Delivery

Through a private equity offering, Redmond, WA-based engineering startup Otto Robotics has raised $1.5 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Experts underscored that Otto Robotics, while maintaining a similar name, is not the company known as Otto, which is developing self-driving trucks and was bought by Uber last fall. Uber’s move to acquire Otto was seen as a push by the ride-hailing app operator to recruit more engineers.

Otto Robotics, on the other hand, has reportedly been working on an automated food delivery system. The company’s website says it makes “low-cost modular robotic solutions for the restaurant industry” and that its “products are designed to assemble, cook and deliver food with no human intervention.”

Garett Ochs, the company’s cofounder and chief executive, released that lead investors in the seed round of funding included Draper Associates and Vulcan Capital. The latter investor is Microsoft Cofounder Paul Allen’s firm. The other cofounder listed in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing is Colton Anderson. Both formerly worked at Oculus and Planetary Resources.

Form D disclosures are typically used to track and understand competitors and are highly confidential for the involved startups. The money raised, according to the company, will be funneled towards developing the engineering lineup, specifically with a focus on mechanical, electrical and mechatronic engineers.