SoftBank-backed robot pizza startup Zume ceased operations after raising millions: Report
According to two people with knowledge of the situation, Zume Inc., a former robot pizza company that came to symbolize the excesses of pre-pandemic venture investing, has ceased operations.
The company had received about $450 million from the Vision Fund of SoftBank Group Corp. One of the people said that it has hired Sherwood Partners, a restructuring company, to sell its assets. The closure was first reported by The Information.
The company was one of many that tried to use robots to make pizza when it was founded in 2015. The idea never caught on, and the technology was beset by problems, like stopping melting cheese from slipping off while the pizzas baked inside moving trucks.
Based on the know-how of a southern California company it had acquired, Pivot Packaging, the company cut more than half of its workforce and switched to compostable packaging in January 2020.
