Company
Starship Technologies
Autonomous delivery vehicle company founded in 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla (CEO) and Janus Friis.
- Founded
- 2014
- HQ
- San Francisco, CA
- Status
- private
- Models
- 2
- Deployments
- 6
Verified profile
12
Sources on record
2
Tracked changes
Updated 13 days ago
Last verified change
Overview
Autonomous delivery vehicle company founded in 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla (CEO) and Janus Friis. Starship Technologies developed the world's first autonomous sidewalk delivery robot, completing over 7 million autonomous deliveries. Raised 0M Series C in October 2025, bringing total funding to 80M+. 99% autonomous robots deployed for Uber Eats and campus delivery. Originally founded in Estonia, now HQ in San Francisco.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- 6 deployments on file
- Active incidents
- 2 incidents on file
DEPLOY Intelligence
Market intelligence for physical AI
Analyst-grade signals, competitive tracking, and investment context across the global physical AI landscape. Launching 2026.
Models (2)
View all models →Current platform
Starship Delivery Robot
Starship Technologies' delivery robot is a six-wheeled autonomous sidewalk robot (with a bogie system to climb curbs) that carries up to ~9-10 kg (about three grocery bags), travels around 4 mph, and runs up to ~18 hours per charge; it has completed millions of commercial deliveries across university campuses and towns.
Current platform
Starship Bot
Starship Bot is the six-wheeled autonomous sidewalk delivery robot of Starship Technologies, founded in 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla, who is also chief executive, and Janus Friis, with headquarters in San Francisco and engineering hubs in Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland. The robot carries an insulated cargo compartment and navigates sidewalks at low speed using multi-sensor fusion of cameras, radar, ultrasonics, and GPS, operating as an operator-supervised Level 4 system: it drives autonomously with remote human oversight and takeover available rather than being driverless, a distinction the registry preserves against Starship's own marketing of Level 4 autonomy without active human supervision. Starship runs a captive operator-supervised service model, operating its own fleet and selling the delivery backbone to apps, retailers, and campuses rather than selling robots to third parties, integrating with platforms such as Uber Eats, Just Eat, Bolt, Foodora, Grubhub, and Wolt. As of Starship's own April 2026 disclosure it had passed ten million cumulative autonomous deliveries with more than three thousand robots across more than three hundred service areas in eight countries: the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, and the United States, with more than sixty-five US university campuses as its anchor segment; Denmark, sometimes listed in priors, is not among them. It remains privately held, having closed a fifty-million-dollar Series C led by Plural in October 2025 that brought cumulative funding above two hundred eighty million dollars, with no valuation disclosed by the company.
Relationships
Current leadership (3)
- Alastair Westgarth CEOIR-verified
- Ahti Heinla Co-founder & CTOsecondary-verified
- Ahti Heinla Co-founder & CEOsecondary-verified
Founders (2)
- Ahti Heinlacofounderfounded 2014-01-01
- Janus Friiscofounderfounded 2014-01-01
Former / Previously (2)
- Janus Friis Co-founder (non-operational)secondary-verified
- Allan Martinson COO (2014-2018, former)secondary-verified
Safety record
2 incidents on record (1 moderate, 1 minor). Most recent: Feb 2024.
Most recent: Feb 2024
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Incidents affecting Starship Technologies (2)
- Starship Technologies delivery robot reportedly struck a parked car and left the scene, Helsinki (2025)2024-02-15 · Property damage
Includes incidents linked directly to this company, to its models, or to deployments of its models or under its operation. Retracted incidents are excluded from this view but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Operated deployments (6)
- Starship BotArizona State University (Tempe)
- Starship BotUNC Charlotte
- Starship BotUniversity of Illinois Chicago
- Starship BotWichita State University
- Starship BotBowling Green State University
- Starship BotUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison
Operator customers (1)
- Starship Technologies6 deployments
Recent coverage
Starship Technologies in third-party press
Peer companies
- Amazon4 models
- Avride2 models
- Coco Robotics2 models
- Kiwibot2 models
- Serve Robotics2 models
- Cartken1 model
Financial state
- Reporting basis
- aggregator_estimate
- Lifecycle stage
- growth
- Counterparty risk class
- moderate
Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Partnerships (3)
- Starship x Just Eat with Just Eatdeployment
- Starship x Grubhub with Grubhubdeployment
- Starship x Co-op with Co-opdeployment
Funding rounds (1)
- Series C2025-10-15
$50M
Investors: Plural (lead)
Sources (12)
- Starship Technologies — Company website · https://www.starship.xyz
- Wikipedia — Starship Technologies · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Technologies
- https://www.starship.xyz/press/autonomous-delivery-moves-into-the-mainstream-as-starship-technologies-passes-10-million-deliveries/
- https://www.starship.xyz/press/starship-technologies-raises-50m-series-c/
- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251015387447/en/Starship-Technologies-Raises-$50M-Series-C-to-Scale-Autonomous-Delivery-Across-U.S.-Cities
- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251120298420/en/Starship-Technologies-and-Uber-Eats-Launch-Autonomous-Delivery-Partnership
- https://www.starship.xyz/press/starship-technologies-and-uber-eats-launch-autonomous-delivery-partnership/
- https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/technology/starship-technologies-raises-50m-robot-delivery-race-revs
- https://www.pymnts.com/partnerships/2025/uber-eats-and-starship-to-launch-autonomous-sidewalk-robot-delivery-in-december/
- https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/grubhub-and-starship-technologies-partner-to-bring-robot-delivery-services-to-college-campuses-301645087.html
- https://about.grubhub.com/news/grubhub-and-starship-technologies-partner-to-bring-robot-delivery-services-to-college-campuses/
- https://www.roboticstomorrow.com/story/2025/04/starship-technologies-surpasses-8-million-deliveries/24613/
Common questions
- What is Starship Technologies?
- Autonomous delivery vehicle company founded in 2014 by Skype co-founders Ahti Heinla (CEO) and Janus Friis. Starship Technologies developed the world's first autonomous sidewalk delivery robot, completing over 7 million autonomous deliveries. Raised 0M Series C in October 2025, bringing total funding to 80M+. 99% autonomous robots deployed for Uber Eats and campus delivery. Originally founded in Estonia, now HQ in San Francisco.
- Where is Starship Technologies based?
- Starship Technologies is based in San Francisco, CA.
- When was Starship Technologies founded?
- Starship Technologies was founded in 2014.
- What does Starship Technologies make?
- Starship Technologies has 2 robot models on the DEPLOY registry: Starship Delivery Robot, Starship Bot (Starship Technologies builds physical robots).
- Where does Starship Technologies operate robots?
- Starship Technologies operates 6 verified deployments, including at Arizona State University (Tempe), UNC Charlotte, University of Illinois Chicago.
- Are there any incidents involving Starship Technologies?
- 2 active incidents involving Starship Technologies are on the DEPLOY registry. Each is a sourced, append-only record; retracted incidents are suppressed from this view.
- Is Starship Technologies safe?
- Starship Technologies has 2 active incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. 2 incidents on record (1 moderate, 1 minor). Most recent: Feb 2024. Retracted incidents are excluded from this count.
Methodology: Verified · 12 sources (7 primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-02
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-07-02
Sources by quality tier
- 7
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
- 4
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
- 1
- knowledge-base
- Knowledge base
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Starship Technologies.Peer companies
- Amazon4 models
- Avride2 models
- Coco Robotics2 models
- Kiwibot2 models
- Serve Robotics2 models
- Cartken1 model
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Starship Technologies from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Starship Technologies ending delivery robot service at US college campuses
Starship Technologies ending autonomous delivery robot service at Winona State University and all other US college campuses.
The backlash over delivery robots
BBC: Growing backlash over delivery robots appearing on pavements in US cities. Accessibility and safety concerns mounting.
Starship Technologies: 10 million autonomous deliveries completed
Starship robots are 99% autonomous, Level 4. Completed over 10 million deliveries, millions more than any competitor.
Starship Technologies and Just Eat announce ground-breaking partnership
Starship Technologies and Just Eat announced a major partnership expanding robot delivery. Starship claims to have made more than two million deliveries.
Starship Technologies Raises 0M Series C to Scale Autonomous Delivery
Starship Technologies raised 0M Series C, bringing total funding to 80M+. Founded by Skype co-founders, completed 7M+ autonomous deliveries.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/starship.md
- RSS feed: /companies/starship/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/9fa14702-0c5f-4c07-a300-79665ed32dd9
- Revision history: /companies/starship/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Amazon4 models
- Avride2 models
- Coco Robotics2 models
- Kiwibot2 models
- Serve Robotics2 models
- Cartken1 model
DEPLOY Intelligence Score
50.3/ 100
6-month trend
Analysis
Safety profile within acceptable range for category. Funded with institutional backing on record. Limited public visibility and press coverage relative to peers.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Safety Record
Funding Health
Deployment Scale
IP Activity
Market Presence
Hiring Signal
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
Last computed: Jul 3, 2026
Intelligence layer