Autonomous sidewalk delivery company Serve Robotics has acquired AI-based urban robot navigation company Vayu Robotics to enhance its AI-driven autonomous delivery.
In 2021, Serve became an independent entity following spin-off from Uber. Since then, it has executed tens of thousands of deliveries for corporate clients, including Uber Eats and 7-Eleven.
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The acquisition of Vayu is expected to benefit Serve by “unlocking safer, faster and more generalisable navigation while accelerating entry into new geographies and use cases”.
The transaction will bring together Serve’s autonomous technology stack and extensive real-world sidewalk dataset with Vayu’s proficiency in AI foundation models and its scaleable, simulation-driven data engine.
Serve’s third-generation robots are powered by the NVIDIA Orin edge AI platform.
It will also expand Serve’s autonomy training capabilities through Vayu’s high-speed, photorealistic simulation engine, enabling scaleable, diverse and edge-case-rich AI training.
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By GlobalDataThe integration of Vayu’s technology could enable Serve to expand into new delivery use cases and environments, such as bike lanes and road margins, facilitating faster entry into new customer categories and regions, and driving additional revenue and customer growth.
The enhanced safety, reliability and speed are also projected to improve operation costs across Serve’s growing fleet.
According to media reports, the deal has a value of $240m.
It includes an initial consideration of 1.696 million shares of Serve’s common stock to Vayu stockholders, with a potential future earnout of 560,000 shares contingent on achieving certain autonomy performance milestones.
Warrants to purchase four million shares of common stock at $10.36 per share have been issued to the Vayu SAFE holder, Khosla Ventures.
Some Vayu stockholders may receive cash instead of shares, and the transaction is subject to customary terms including a 180-day lockup for stock consideration and a four-year lockup for warrant consideration.
Post-acquisition, Serve expects to maintain a strong balance sheet and continue having access to sufficient capital to support its growth and innovation in the autonomous delivery sector.
Vayu’s team includes founders Anand Gopalan, Mahesh Krishnamurthi and Nitish Srivastava. Vayu lead investor Vinod Khosla will also join Serve’s advisory board.
Serve has secured scaleable, multi-year agreements, notably a contract to roll out as many as 2,000 delivery robots on the Uber Eats network across various US locations.
