Shenzhen China-based Pudu Robotics (Pudutech) announced today that it closed $78M in series C round funding with participation by Tengxun Touzi (a division of Tencent Investments), Sequoia Capital China, and Meituan. The company completed a Series B+ round of $15 million in funding in August 2020. That round was led by Sequoia Capital China with participation from existing investors Meituan, Everwin Investment, QC Capital, and Chengbohan Fund.

Pudutech was founded in 2016 and has raised $102M so far in investment.

Pudu Robotics makes autonomous mobile robots (AMR) for the catering market. Pudutech AMRs are deployed in restaurants for delivering food from the kitchen to the tableside and for transporting dirty dish bins from the front of the house to the dishwashing area. The company expanded into hospitality, and now has AMRs configured to help with the delivery of sundry items from a hotel front desk, directly to guest rooms. In 2020, in response to the pandemic, Pudutech engineered and released a biocide-spraying AMR to help disinfect facilities, such as restaurants, kitchens and hotel lobbies, and hotel rooms.

The company remarked that the received funding would be used mainly to research robotics-related cutting edge technology, expand the product line, explore new usage scenarios, and expand their domestic and international market channels.