Fresh Funded, Coco Robotics Rebrands
Dick's + Uber, PetSmart + Skip, grocery delivery surges, Amazon starts q-commerce
Today we’ve got a well funded (and freshly rebranded) robot on the loose, two new retail partnerships, some encouraging grocery delivery news, and a big splash by Amazon. Let’s get to it…
Ad hominem: an Uber spox fired back against last week’s DoorDash advertising updates, countering “Uber Advertising officially launched in Oct 2022. So from a retail media network perspective, that ‘fastest growth’ claim from DD doesn't hold water given we surpassed $1.5bn ARR in Q1 25 (disclosed as part of earnings).”
Today:
New Funding + Website for Coco Robotics
Dick’s & PetSmart Canada Sign 3PD Deals
Chart Time | Grocery Deliveries Nearly Double
Amazon Enters India’s Q-Commerce Arena
FINANCE | Coco Robotics Raises $80M, Relaunches Website
Los Angeles-based Coco Robotics announced it’s closed on $80 million in venture funding, bringing its lifetime fundraising haul to $110 million. The round was led by SNR, other investors include OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Pelion Venture Partners, Offline Ventures and Max Altman. The company also recently announced a research collaboration with OpenAI to use the robots’ encounters as novel data. Coco now plans to scale towards 10,000 robots deployed by the end of 2026. CEO Zach Rash noted “Over time we want this to be the autonomous vehicle equivalent of a bike courier.”
The Big Picture: While Coco’s PDD competitors have been a bit splashier — Kiwibot just drummed up attention for its rebrand to Robot.com, Serve Robotics consistently announces new at the market funding events — Coco has tended to keep its cards closer to its vest. Rash actually implied the funding had been secured for quite some time in our February interview over at Ottomate, but that they were waiting for the right time to capitalize on it. Coco is using this moment to debut a new logo and refreshed corporate website, emphasizing that it has the “world’s largest fleet of self driving delivery vehicles,” noting its operations in multiple continents and looking for workers at its new Venice Beach HQ.
PARTNERSHIPS | Uber Gets Dick’s, Skip Paws PetSmart
Uber Eats unveiled two new retail partners: Dick’s Sporting Goods, as well as its subsidiary Golf Galaxy. Dick’s has 724 of its main equipment and apparel stores, and another 104 locations dedicated to the incredibly boring “sport” of golf. Up in the Great White North, Skip (fka Skip the Dishes) has partnered with PetSmart, kicking off the collab with $20 off orders of $50+. The dog and cat super store has 140 locations across Canada.
The Big Picture: Uber Eats’ retail vertical is now full of competing pet-related chains: Petco, Pet Food Expess, Just Food for Dogs, Tailwaggers and more. Just Eat Takeaway-owned Skip has been slower to enter non-restaurant verticals (hence the recent rebrand,) with new partners including Walmart Canada, pharmacy chain Rexall and c-store chain Petro-Canada.
CHART TIME | Grocery Delivery’s Explosive YoY Growth
Brick Meets Click has their May e-grocery sales stats out, showing that May 2025 absolutely clobbered 2024, growing $2.1 billion, with the expansion led by first and third party delivery. Sales were down, however, compared to last month’s $9.8 billion haul. Driving the annual growth were improvements to monthly active users, a double-digit rise in order frequency and increased average order values.
Q-COMMERCE | Amazon Enters India’s Rapid Delivery Market
E-commerce giant Amazon is setting its sights on India’s hyper-competitive quick-commerce space, with the launch of Amazon Now. Bezos & Co quietly started piloting the service in select neighborhoods of Bengaluru (Bangalore,) the country’s tech capital, last year. Amazon Now, which is integrated directly into Amazon’s main app in India, promises to deliver select goods in as little as 10 minutes, with free deliveries on orders of ₹199 ($2.31) or more, with no added surcharges or fees.
The Big Picture: Amazon is going up against rapid delivery stalwarts Zepto, Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart in a race to the bottom. Last quarter, publicly listed Swiggy upped its loss to 10.8 billion INR ($126M USD) as it plowed more investment into the q-commerce space. Back in the states, Amazon is also tinkering with its toolkit, shaking up operations in its grocery and healthcare / pharmacy businesses.
A Few Good Links
Czech grocery delivery unicorn Rohlik to sell its operational tech. Low-cost pizza chains struggle as economy bifurcates. Apollo, Irth Capital seek to take Papa Johns private. Foodtech funding falters. NHTSA looks to streamline exemptions for AVs. Misfits Market buys The Rounds. DD closes on SevenRooms acquisition. DD Canada integrates with rewards program PC Optimum. Instacart and Pinterest collaborate on retail media. Lou Malnati’s scores new CEO. Port of LA volume drops. DHL Express Caanda suspends operations amid strike. Diebold Nixdorf to manufacture self-checkout machines in U.S. Vending machine brand Cantaloupe goes private at $884M valuation. Costco to build first standalone gas station. Tariffs weigh on Dollar Tree Q2. Little Caesars launches Marvel promo. AJ Tracey debuts new album on Deliveroo. Delivery Hero partners with Allied for Startups. Glovo, Foodora and Foody turn 10. InDrive exits Miami amid high insurance costs. Lyft deepens ad offerings. Wonder eyes 2028 IPO. Grab-GoTo deal inches ahead.
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