This Black woman co-founder just raised $48M for robotic pizza empire

(Photo: Steve Jennings/Getty Images)

Zume, the company known across the internet for being the “pizza robot company,” has just raised another $48 million for its robotics empire.

Cofounders/co-CEOs Julia Collins and Alex Garden confirmed their plans to raise $50 million toward expanding their automation company, which currently uses automation in pizza-making for tasks ranging from spreading sauce to taking pizzas out of the oven.

“We’ve recently closed a round from leading investors to support our hiring and market growth,” the cofounders told Tech Crunch of the earnings, which were recently detailed in an SEC filing.

While Zume is already serving parts of the Bay area, the push for more funding will help them to expand their reach and is also expected to help them develop more technologies. Ultimately, they hope to become the “Amazon of food” as they look into more ways to automate the food industry.

Both Collins and Garden have also spoken about their desire to free up people who work in the food industry to pursue more creative jobs more in line with their own passions, even within the food industry, such as creating more recipes.

Of course, while Collins joked during a recent appearance at Disrupt that they hoped to move past the “pizza robot company” label, it’s not likely to happen anytime soon. But with the new funds breathing life into their company, they can be expected to make strides.