Food Robot Startup Karakuri Folds as Industry Faces Growing Losses

Karakuri, a startup that produced a robotic food kiosk to assemble cold and hot ingredients into prepared meals, announced its shutdown. The founder of the startup, Barney Wragg, cited the pandemic and challenging fundraising environment as the reasons for closure. He shared a link to a Google Sheet with Karakuri employees who are looking for new roles. The startup survived several challenges, including the pandemic and their bank going bankrupt, but were unable to secure funding to move to the next level. The closure isn’t shocking as food robotics startups undergo extensive development cycles and require significant capital investment. Investors in the industry suggest that newer startups will benefit from the need to be frugal from the outset. They may commercialize subsystems or components to reach positive revenue more quickly.