Fallen pizza startup Zume shuts down after raising millions

ZUME a one-time robot pizza business that came to represent the excesses of pre-pandemic venture investing, has shut operations, two people familiar with the matter said.

The company had raised about US$450 million from SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund and others.

It has retained Sherwood Partners, a restructuring firm, to sell its assets, one of the people said.

The Information first reported the shuttering.

Zume did not respond to requests for comment.

Founded in 2015, the company was one of many attempting to use robots to make pizza.

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The concept never took off, and the technology was plagued by technical challenges, such as keeping melting cheese from sliding off while the pizzas baked in moving trucks.

In January 2020, the company cut over half its employees and switched to compostable packaging, based on the know-how of a southern California company it had acquired, Pivot Packaging. BLOOMBERG