A robotics start-up company that had attracted millions in investment from Ocado has been sold for just £350,000.
Founded in 2018 by Barney Wragg, Karakuri developed a robotic chef for serving noodles and an automatic fryer – which had undergone trials with Nando’s.
The start-up raised £13m from food delivery company Ocado and the taxpayer-backed Future Fund, an initiative launched by Rishi Sunak during the pandemic designed to help start-ups.
However, the firm collapsed into administration in June, with 30 staff losing jobs, after it failed to raise external funding to expand its kitchen automation business, burning through £3.3m in 2022 as venture investment dried up.
According to The Telegraph, accountancy firm RSM was hired to advise on a possible administration, but a deal fell apart after investors had tried recapitalising the business.
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Karakuri’s founder, Mo Khodadadi, previously said: “This camera understands humans, it understands food items, it also understands packaging. If [the chef] leaves something missing, it is going to raise it to him and mitigate that.”
A British Business Bank spokesman told The Telegraph: “We do not comment on individual cases given commercial sensitivities, however the bank will always aim to secure value for money and aim to protect the taxpayers’ interests.”
Damian Webb, a partner at RSM, commented: “Karakuri explored all available options to secure the available funding to take it to profitability. Regrettably, the current economic landscape undermined these efforts,” he said.
It comes as last month, Ocado was paid £200m by Norwegian company AutoStore, after winning a three-year long ‘robot wars’ legal battle.
