LG Invests $60 Million in Bear Robotics Startup

Bear Robotics, a startup headquartered in Redwood City, California, that is setting out to make hospitality management easier is being backed by LG Electronics for $60 million, according to TechCrunch.

While LG may not dominate the smartphone arena, it’s turning its focus toward gadgets like robots. Today, the electronics giant announced a $60 million investment in Bear Robotics, a company specializing in AI-powered server robots for restaurants and other venues. These autonomous tray towers on wheels aim to replace waiters. LG Electronics with this investment has become the robotics startup’s biggest shareholder.

According to data from PitchBook, Bear’s previous fundraising round in 2022 marked the company’s valuation at just over $490 million post-money. Even though the valuation for this recent investment remains unclear, the past year has proven challenging for startups in the arena.

This recent backing comes almost two months after LG CEO William Cho dropped clues about LG’s interest in equity investments in robotics specializing in delivery and logistics at CES 2024 in January. The company is now backing up its words with actions.

Following the closing of LG’s struggling mobile business across the globe in April 2021, the Korean giant transitioned its attention to other areas of growth for its business, which includes smart homes, the Internet of Things, connected devices, electric vehicles (EV) components, artificial intelligence platforms, and robotics.

In a statement, Lee Sam-soo, chief strategy officer at LG Electronics, said, “As the service robot market enters a period of growth, this equity investment will significantly contribute to securing a ‘Winning competitive edge’ for the company. From a mid- to long-term perspective, we will seek to develop our robot business into a new growth engine, exploring various opportunities through the integration of cutting-edge technologies such as Embodied AI and robotic manipulation.”

Bear Robotics was founded by John Ha in 2017. Ha is a former Google software engineer in Silicon Valley turned restaurant owner, who experienced how challenging things could get. His hands-on experience with the difficulties of running a restaurant sparked his interest and passion to develop serving robots. 

Ha said, “Just as Android revolutionized the smartphone era, standardized open platforms are essential for the activation of the robot market.”