Serve Robotics secures $80M in new funding to expand its sidewalk delivery robot fleet

Nvidia and Uber-backed Serve Robotics has secured $80 million in a direct offering of 4.2 million shares of common stock. This funding will help the company extend its runway through 2026 and scale its robot fleet from the 100 units currently operating in Los Angeles to 2,000 by the end of 2025, across multiple U.S. cities.

The $80 million was raised from unnamed institutional investors and is in addition to the $86 million in gross proceeds Serve raised in December 2024 through an at-the-market facility and the exercise of warrants. This brings the startup’s total funding over the past 12 months to $247 million.

Serve, which went public earlier this year via a reverse merger, expects the $80 million offering to close on Tuesday, subject to certain conditions. While the company has not disclosed specific plans for how it will use the gross proceeds, it stated the funds will be allocated toward working capital to build the business and deploy robots.

Serve was more transparent about the use of the $86 million raised in December. That funding will go toward purchasing equipment outright, allowing the company to eliminate the need for financing, along with the associated servicing costs.

Currently, Serve operates about 100 robots in Los Angeles, delivering for roughly 300 restaurants through Uber Eats and 7-Eleven. In October, the company began a trial in Dallas, partnering with Wing to integrate sidewalk robots and drone delivery.

Serve plans to add another 250 robots to Los Angeles streets in the first quarter of 2025, with the goal of deploying up to 2,000 robots across multiple U.S. cities by the end of next year through a contract with Uber Eats. Read noted that the company expects to achieve cash flow positivity from operations once the 2,000-robot fleet reaches full utilization.