Food robotics company YPC Technologies inks seed round

Montreal-based kitchen automation company YPC Technologies has secured C$1.8 million in a seed-stage financing. The round was co-led by new investor Hike Ventures and returning investor Real Ventures, with participation from Toyota AI Ventures, Uphill Capital and angel investors. YPC is using advances in robotics and artificial intelligence to develop new technology for preparing healthy meals.

PRESS RELEASE

MONTREAL, October 20, 2020 – YPC Technologies, a food robotics company with the vision of making good food more accessible, today announced the closing of a $1.8M funding round co-led by Hike Ventures and returning investor Real Ventures, with participation from Toyota AI Ventures, Uphill Capital, and multiple angel investors.

“YPC Technologies’ versatile approach to robotic cooking has the potential to alter the way we prepare food in a variety of settings, democratizing the access to high-quality meals.” said Mikihiro Yasuda, managing partner at Hike Ventures. “We are excited to co-lead this round with Real Ventures and help YPC to start commercializing their technology.”

Co-founded by Gunnar Grass and Camilo Perez, YPC Technologies is pioneering a new era of kitchen automation by building the first robot that can prepare thousands of recipes, at restaurant quality, using fresh ingredients. Rather than replacing staff, the system collaborates with humans to increase their output efficiency by taking care of highly repetitive cooking tasks. As their technology is compact and does not require a vented range hood, it can be operated in locations not suited for a standard commercial kitchen. The company sells their system on a subscription basis to enterprise clients in various industries, including restaurants, cafeteria operators, hotels, and cloud kitchens.

“We leverage modern kitchen appliances with robotics and machine learning to cook fresh, customized meals with great consistency and hygiene,” said CEO and co-founder Gunnar Grass. “Our system allows our B2B customers to decrease the cost of labor, rent, and food waste and enables consumers to access healthier food at lower cost.”

“Robotic kitchen automation is a nascent space with great market potential. The solution from YPC Technologies is smart, efficient, and scalable. YPC’s robotic kitchen enables safe collaboration with humans and simultaneously solves multiple cooking challenges: quantity, quality, and variety,” said Jim Adler, founding managing director at Toyota AI Ventures. “We look forward to working with the YPC Technologies team as they bring their technology to market.”

YPC Technologies will use the financing to expand its engineering team and launch their beta version with an industry-leading multinational. The company also announced that Kaunteya Nundy, an investment banker who previously helped establish two of Canada’s best restaurants, has joined the team as their COO.

About YPC Technologies
At YPC Technologies, our vision is to make good food more accessible. We are pioneering a new field in kitchen automation by building a compact robotic kitchen that can prepare thousands of recipes using fresh ingredients. We sell our units on a subscription basis to enterprise clients in the restaurant and cafeteria industry, helping them with labor shortages, staff turnover, food hygiene, and allowing them to create new market opportunities. Our technology allows for the collaboration with human cooks and is meant to complement, rather than replace kitchen workers. In 2021, we are bringing our system to market with an industry leading partner.