PeykBot - Investment Memo

UK's First Fully Modular Autonomous Delivery Robot

Peyk specialises in sustainable urban delivery through manufacturing of modular electric ground robots. Founded in 2018 in London as an on-demand peer-to-peer delivery platform, Peyk pivoted into autonomous mobile robots in 2022 given increasing driver shortages.

The autonomous delivery robot called PeykBot offers last-mile logistics solutions to businesses via a robot-as-a-service model. Customers pay a monthly leasing fee for access to the robots along with training, maintenance and support.

The company currently has a team of 18 people, with industry level engineers working globally to facilitate assembly in the UK and soon in the UAE to meet increasing client interest.

The last mile delivery segment is plagued by substantial inefficiencies that incur high costs and environmental externalities. Traffic congestion coupled with sub-optimal routing causes up to 30% late parcel deliveries, wasting billions annually across decreased productivity and customer dissatisfaction. Additionally, the high fuel consumption and emissions from vans and motorbikes utilized for last-mile worsens air pollution, noise, and carbon footprint.

The logistics industry also grapples with severe labor shortages particularly in last-mile which relies heavily on the unstructured gig economy. Altogether between expenses from congestion delays, air pollution, and driver shortage, last mile delivery incurs exorbitant economic and societal expenses.

Peyk delivers an innovative solution through its autonomous, customizable electric delivery robot called PeykBot. It provides sustainable Last mile delivery leveraging ground robots that navigate via pavements and bike lanes using a combination of proprietary software and remote human oversight. PeykBot offers numerous advantages compared to traditional driver-based logistics for last mile transportation. It slashes delivery costs by up to 90% by eliminating fuel, labor, and minimizing traffic impacts relative to vans

The modular compartment attachments meet requirements across parcel, grocery, food, medical item, laundry delivery and even indoor advertising.

PeykBot supports modular attachments to cater various use cases. The main configuration is the parcel attachment that carries up to 50kg of parcel payload.

On the right, you can see the advertisement module showing that PeykBot can be used for other uses than delivery.

Click here to learn more about the product functionality

PeykBot uses the proprietary technology of AI algorithms to drive autonomously in the town.

PeykBot includes a cloud-based digital platform offering complete fleet oversight along with consumer facing apps. Functions of the platform:

The dashboard allows scheduled maintenance trips and remote diagnostics with proactive part replacement.

APIs also enable integration into existing logistic systems for order intake and job assignment leveraging PeykBot’s location and demand-based optimization algorithms.

Peyk has successfully raised £740,000 to date across 3 early-stage rounds to initially scale up its peer-to-peer delivery platform operations before pivoting into autonomous robot manufacturing in 2021.

Together the 3 priced rounds have provided crucial runway for Peyk to evolve its model, prove out initial product-market validation and establish authority around autonomous mobility.

Venture funding into the delivery robot space has accelerated drastically in 2022 and 2023 after previous slowdown during pandemic. Pitchbook estimates $592 million was invested across mobility and transport robotics in 2022, up 60%. Driver shortages, demand for contactless delivery, and policy shifts now allowing robot pilots have boosted interest.

For autonomous last mile delivery specifically, major rounds were raised by

At least two direct competitors got acquired indicating growing consolidation. Postmates sold to Uber in 2020 for $2.65B to expand food delivery with ground robot potential given Uber's earlier acquisition of Otto's self-driving truck team. Similarly, Shopify acquired Return Logic, a returns focused autonomous robotics company in 2021 to strengthen merchant delivery offerings.

Several strong tailwinds propel growth potential for Peyk's autonomous delivery robots and heighten investment appetite.

Peyk generates revenue primarily through a robot-as-a-service leasing model, charging a monthly fee per robot between £850-1000. Additional revenue comes from customization options.

COGS per robot is approximately £5,000. At an average lease price of £925 per month, payback period per unit is under 5 months. An additional 45%+ gross margin is generated throughout the robot lifetime from the monthly lease payments.

PeykBot targets two initial customer groups: small/medium businesses with recurring delivery cycles, and large enterprises/government entities focused on eco-friendly transport. Segmentation allows customization for early risk mitigation combined with high-lifetime-value accounts.

The EU represents a future high-potential geography for scaled commercialization of delivery robots leveraging its density as well as initiatives around smart mobility. By 2024, last-mile delivery traffic will have risen 20% especially from ecommerce and food orders as online shopping grows at a 32% CAGR across Europe. Congestion already costs EU countries $121 billion annually underscoring the need for sustainable optimization.

Specifically, the autonomous on-demand last mile delivery space is projected to reach €17 billion by 2030. Currently over 60 European cities have ongoing trials for sidewalk robots from startups like Delivery Robots Paris and Milo in Finland. EU lawmakers are expected to establish standardized regulations across member countries for governing self-driving technology by 2025. Already cities like Milton Keynes in the UK and Vienna, Austria have pedestrianized zones where PeykBot vehicles can legally operate based on existing approvals. This will expand territory for new data collection.

PeykBot's weather resistance and modular customization abilities make the platform primed for European expansion as regulators catch up to demands for de-carbonization. With heavy R&D priorities across the EU, Peyk will leverage state investments in sustainable mobility.

Originally bootstrapped as an on-demand peer delivery marketplace, Peyk saw drivers shortfall in COVID's wake. But they responded quickly to diversify into autonomous robot manufacturing realizing sizable existing funding could still build momentum.

Led by CEO Salman Moghimi who has business development pedigree from Bayes Business School and passion for transportation problem-solving, the team packs entrepreneurial vigor. CMO Ali Reza brings digital marketing leadership including Peyk's early growth.

This founding team oversees technology teams in London and engineering leads based offshore ensuring development-to-deployment coordination. Their current 18 member squad combines robotics, mobility, and platform expertise key to offering PeykBot as a managed hardware plus software delivery solution.

This offers Peyk ample room for continued market development leveraging existing customer interest and purpose-built modular customization.

🇺🇸 Compared to US peers focusing tightly on food, PeykBot’s parcel, retail and medical transport capabilities tackle wider urban logistics needs. Their advanced sensors and remote oversight also enables higher autonomy levels than American competitors.

🇪🇺 Regionally European startups like Deliveries AI and Turkey’s Yapek offer nascent competition. However first backend integrations with Middle Eastern mobility firms signals strong client traction for PeykBot internationally.

🇨🇳 However Chinese entrants could pose eventual risks given rapid iterative deployment at lower price points albeit compromised reliability currently. Hence entrenching support infrastructure across chosen territories quickly forms a vital barrier leveraging Peyk’s early technical sophistication and multi-industry relevance.