Summary
Bear Robotics builds autonomous mobile robots that automate repetitive physical tasks in restaurants, hotels, hospitals, senior living facilities, warehouses, and other commercial environments. The company’s primary product is the Servi family of service robots, which handle food running, table bussing, drink delivery, and supply transport in hospitality settings. Bear’s robots use LiDAR sensors, 3D cameras, and AI-powered navigation software to move safely through crowded, dynamic human environments while avoiding obstacles and rerouting in real time.
Founded in 2017 by former Google engineer John Ha after his experience running a Korean restaurant exposed him to labor challenges in food service, Bear Robotics has grown to over 16,000 robots deployed globally across North America, Europe, and Asia. In January 2025, LG Electronics acquired a majority 51% stake in the company, making Bear a subsidiary and integrating it with LG’s CLOi Robots commercial robotics business. Bear has raised approximately $175 million in total funding and operates from headquarters in Redwood City, California.
The company’s stated mission is to allow human staff to focus on guest interaction and hospitality by offloading repetitive walking, carrying, and transport tasks to robots. Bear positions its robots as “force multipliers” that enhance service quality rather than replace workers. In 2026, Bear expanded beyond food service delivery into autonomous cleaning, industrial warehouse automation with its Carti AMR line, and humanoid manipulation through its acquisition of Kinisi Robotics and the KR1 wheeled humanoid platform.
Company Story
John Ha founded Bear Robotics after experiencing the operational challenges of running a restaurant firsthand. A former technical lead and senior software engineer at Google with a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin, Ha opened Kang Nam Tofu House, a Korean restaurant in Milpitas, California. His original plan was to casually greet guests and enjoy restaurant ownership, but reality proved far more demanding. Ha found himself walking five to eight kilometers per day serving food, bussing tables, and washing dishes while struggling with constant hiring and retention challenges.
“I was really shocked by how much hard work is involved and how low [employees’] income is,” Ha told TechCrunch in 2020. “I felt [as I was forced to close it] that this was going to be my life’s work — to transform the restaurant industry with the skills I have. I wanted to remove the hard work and the repetitive tasks so that humans can focus on the truly human side, the hospitality.”
Ha assembled a founding team including Juan Higueros (COO), Fangwei Li, and Brennand Pierce, and established Bear Robotics in May 2017. The company’s first innovation was Penny, an early prototype service robot designed to autonomously deliver dishes from the kitchen to dining tables. The robot used laser sensors and 3D cameras to navigate restaurant environments, with a design that prioritized functionality over humanoid appearance — it resembled a mobile cart with trays rather than a person.
Bear raised a $750,000 angel round in 2017 followed by a $2.8 million seed round in 2018, which enabled the company to refine its technology and begin early deployments. In January 2020, SoftBank Robotics led a $32 million Series A round, providing the capital to develop Servi, Bear’s first mass-production model. Servi featured patented stabilizing trays designed to distribute momentum for spill-free food delivery, a 66-pound payload capacity across two trays plus a bus tub, and the ability to run up to 200 delivery cycles on a single four-hour charge.
The restaurant industry’s acute labor shortages, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, created strong market demand for Bear’s robots. By March 2022, Bear had deployed over 5,000 robots across restaurants in the United States, South Korea, and Japan, partnering with major chains including Chili’s, Denny’s, Marriott, Compass Group, and Pepsi. The company announced an $81 million Series B round led by Korean private equity firm IMM Investment with participation from Cleveland Avenue (a venture capital firm founded by former McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson), KT Corporation, and Woowa Bros. The round valued Bear at approximately $490-517 million post-money.
Bear continued expanding its product line and partnerships. In March 2024, LG Electronics made a strategic $60 million Series C investment for a 21% stake, with an option to acquire up to an additional 30% ownership. The partnership brought LG’s global manufacturing and distribution capabilities alongside Bear’s robotics software and AI expertise. In January 2025, LG exercised its call option and acquired the additional stake for approximately $180 million, bringing its total ownership to 51% and valuing Bear at approximately $600 million. Bear became an LG subsidiary, with LG integrating its CLOi Robots commercial division into Bear while keeping Bear’s management team, including CEO John Ha, in place.
In 2026, Bear accelerated its product diversification. At the National Restaurant Association Show in May, the company unveiled Servi Q, a compact service robot developed in collaboration with SoftBank Robotics and designed for narrow aisles and tight spaces that had previously prevented many venues from adopting robotics. Bear also launched the Servi Clean and Servi Clean Max autonomous cleaning robots for sweeping, vacuuming, scrubbing, and mopping in hospitality, healthcare, and commercial environments. At MODEX 2026 in April, Bear introduced its Carti industrial AMR line, including the Carti 100, designed for warehouse and factory automation with open API capabilities for fleet orchestration of over 500 robots.
Most significantly, in June 2026, Bear announced a definitive agreement to acquire Kinisi Robotics, a Bristol-based humanoid and Physical AI startup founded by Brennand Pierce, one of Bear’s original co-founders. The acquisition brought Kinisi’s KR1 wheeled humanoid robot, its manipulation AI platform, and its UK engineering team into Bear. This added advanced object manipulation capabilities — picking, sorting, and handling — to Bear’s existing navigation and delivery strengths, positioning the company to perform a fuller range of physical work across its 16,000+ deployed robot fleet.
Founders
John Ha (Founder and CEO) founded Bear Robotics in 2017 after operating his own Korean restaurant and experiencing the labor challenges and physical demands of food service firsthand. Ha previously worked as a technical lead and senior software engineer at Google, where he focused on Java Virtual Machine performance optimization. Before Google, he was a research scientist at Intel Corporation and an adjunct professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Ha holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.S. in computer science and engineering from Seoul National University. His motivation for founding Bear was to transform the restaurant industry by automating repetitive physical tasks and allowing workers to focus on hospitality and human interaction.
Juan Higueros (Co-founder and COO) serves as Bear Robotics’ Chief Operating Officer. Higueros has been instrumental in the company’s operational growth, including partnerships with major restaurant chains like Chili’s, Denny’s, and Marriott, as well as international expansion through SoftBank in Japan and Korea Telecom in South Korea. He has represented the company in press interviews regarding funding rounds and market strategy.
Fangwei Li (Co-founder) is one of Bear Robotics’ original co-founders. Public information about Li’s specific role and background is limited.
Brennand Pierce (Co-founder) was one of Bear Robotics’ original co-founders in 2017. Pierce later left Bear to found Kinisi Robotics, a Bristol-based humanoid and Physical AI startup that developed the KR1 wheeled humanoid robot. In June 2026, Bear Robotics announced a definitive agreement to acquire Kinisi, bringing Pierce and the Kinisi team back into the Bear organization and adding humanoid manipulation capabilities to Bear’s product portfolio.
Products
Servi is Bear’s flagship autonomous service robot for restaurants and hospitality venues. The standard model features two stabilizing trays plus a bus tub with a total payload capacity of 66 pounds (30 kg). Servi uses LiDAR sensors and camera-based sensor fusion to navigate dining rooms, detect obstacles in all directions, and reroute in real time to avoid guests, tables, and staff. The robot operates at speeds between 0.1 and 1.2 meters per second and runs for 12 hours on a 4-hour battery charge, automatically returning to its charging dock. Servi is designed for food running from kitchen to table, table bussing, drink delivery, and inter-station supply replenishment. Bear positions Servi as a “force multiplier” that allows servers to stay in their sections interacting with guests while the robot handles repetitive walking and carrying tasks. The robot is NSF-certified for food service environments.
Servi Plus is the high-capacity flagship model in the Servi family, designed for heavy-duty hospitality workflows. Introduced in 2025, Servi Plus can carry up to 88 pounds (or 16 entrees) across up to four extra-large trays or four standard bus tubs. The robot features active suspension for stable food and liquid delivery, allowing it to traverse various flooring types, ADA ramps, and thresholds up to half an inch. Servi Plus supports multi-robot fleet orchestration with centralized control to prevent congestion and deadlocks. The model is targeted at high-volume restaurants, hotels, and banquet facilities where payload capacity and throughput are critical.
Servi Q is the most compact model in the Servi family, unveiled at the National Restaurant Association Show in May 2026. Developed in collaboration with SoftBank Robotics, Servi Q is purpose-built for narrow aisles, tight hallways, and high-traffic environments that previously prevented many venues from adopting service robots. Bear CEO John Ha stated, “Servi Plus is the workhorse for high-volume venues. Servi Q is the key that unlocks everywhere else.” The robot is designed for restaurants, cafés, hotels, and other hospitality venues of any size without requiring floor plan redesigns. Regional launch schedules and rollout dates were subject to phased availability as of mid-2026.
Servi Clean and Servi Clean Max are autonomous cleaning robots for hospitality, commercial, healthcare, and office environments. Announced in 2026, Servi Clean handles sweeping, vacuuming, and dust mopping across hard floors and carpets. Servi Clean Max is designed for hard-surface cleaning, including sweeping, scrubbing, and mopping, with task scheduling, custom parameters, and reporting capabilities. Bear also includes the LG B9 vacuum robot in its cleaning product lineup, with use cases in hotel hallways and lobbies. These products represent Bear’s expansion from front-of-house food service into facility maintenance automation.
Carti Industrial AMR Line is Bear’s warehouse and factory automation platform, unveiled at MODEX 2026 in April. The Carti line includes the Carti 100, winner of the iF DESIGN AWARD 2025, which is designed for material handling, goods transport, and logistics operations. Carti robots feature Bear’s advanced indoor navigation technology adapted from hospitality to industrial environments. The platform offers open API capabilities, allowing operators to integrate Carti fleets with existing warehouse management systems (WMS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), or manufacturing execution systems (MES) without vendor lock-in. Bear’s fleet management system can orchestrate over 500 robots simultaneously for 24/7 autonomous operations. The Carti line addresses labor shortages, space constraints, and system fragmentation in modern logistics.
Kinisi KR1 Humanoid Platform (pending integration) is a wheeled humanoid robot designed for picking, placing, and manipulating objects in hospitality, retail, industrial, and logistics environments. Developed by Kinisi Robotics and acquired by Bear in June 2026, the KR1 combines vision-language models, robot foundation models, imitation learning, reinforcement learning, agentic task control, and computer vision for object detection, localization, segmentation, tracking, and classification. The acquisition brings advanced manipulation AI to Bear’s existing navigation-focused fleet of over 16,000 deployed robots, closing the capability gap between autonomous delivery and full physical work execution.
Funding
Bear Robotics has raised approximately $175 million across six funding events from 2017 through 2025, culminating in LG Electronics’ majority acquisition.
The company secured a $750,000 angel round in 2017, the same year it was founded, followed by a $2.8 million seed round in 2018 presented at the National Restaurant Association Show. In January 2020, SoftBank Robotics led a $32 million Series A with participation from Cleveland Avenue, funding the development and mass production of the Servi robot.
In March 2022, Bear raised an $81 million Series B led by Korean private equity firm IMM Investment with participation from Cleveland Avenue, KT Corporation, and Woowa Bros. At the time of the announcement, the company had deployed over 5,000 robots. While Bear did not disclose the exact valuation, COO Juan Higueros stated the company received “a pretty good bump from our Series A” and was “comfortable” with the valuation, avoiding what he described as the “frothy” valuations of 2020-2021. Financial data indicates a post-money valuation of approximately $490-517 million for the Series B.
In March 2024, LG Electronics invested $60 million in a Series C round, securing a 21% stake and a call option to acquire up to an additional 30% ownership. The investment was structured as a strategic partnership, with LG announcing plans to integrate Bear’s technology with its CLOi Robots commercial robotics business.
On January 24, 2025, LG Electronics exercised its call option and acquired the additional 30% stake for approximately $180 million, bringing its total ownership to 51% and making Bear Robotics an LG subsidiary. South Korean media reported the transaction valued Bear at approximately $600 million. LG stated that Bear’s CEO John Ha and management team would remain in place to ensure business continuity and focus on creating synergies with LG’s robotics division.
Bear’s investor base includes LG Electronics, SoftBank Robotics, IMM Investment, Cleveland Avenue, KT Corporation, and Woowa Bros. Cleveland Avenue, founded by former McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson, has provided strategic food service industry expertise alongside capital.
Partnerships
Bear Robotics’ most significant partnership is with LG Electronics, which acquired majority ownership in January 2025. LG integrated its CLOi Robots commercial robotics business with Bear, bringing manufacturing scale, global distribution channels, and enterprise customer relationships. LG’s press release stated the acquisition would create “synergies in LG’s commercial robot business” and leverage Bear’s expertise in distributed multi-robot control, remote fleet management, and AI-powered robotics platforms. LG plans to develop a unified software platform for commercial, industrial, and home robots, applying Bear’s technology universally to shorten development cycles. The partnership positions Bear’s robots for deeper integration into LG’s broader smart building, hospitality, and industrial automation product ecosystem.
SoftBank Robotics led Bear’s $32 million Series A in January 2020 and has been a key strategic partner in the company’s international expansion, particularly in Japan. SoftBank has helped distribute and resell Bear’s robots in the Japanese market, leveraging its existing relationships with restaurant chains and hospitality operators. In 2026, Bear and SoftBank Robotics collaborated to develop the Servi Q compact service robot, combining Bear’s navigation software with SoftBank’s robotics hardware and market expertise. SoftBank also demonstrated kitchen automation technologies alongside Bear’s Servi lineup at the 2026 National Restaurant Association Show, signaling deeper integration between the companies’ product roadmaps.
Bear has deployed robots across major restaurant and hospitality chains including Chili’s, Denny’s, Marriott, Compass Group, and Pepsi. The Chili’s partnership has been particularly notable, with Bear expanding its rollout across the country to provide service robots to both staff and customers. These partnerships validate Bear’s technology at enterprise scale and provide case studies for broader adoption in the full-service restaurant segment.
In South Korea, Bear partnered with KT Corporation (Korea Telecom), which participated in Bear’s Series B funding round and has helped distribute Bear’s robots in the Korean market. In Japan, partnerships with Woowa Bros (also a Series B investor) have supported regional expansion and localization.
The Cleveland Avenue venture capital firm, founded by former McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson, has been both an investor (participating in Series A and Series B) and a strategic advisor. COO Juan Higueros stated in a 2022 interview that Bear had “already seen the benefits of working with one of its newest investors, Cleveland Avenue,” indicating strategic guidance on food service industry dynamics, franchisee relationships, and operational requirements for large-scale restaurant deployments.
Timeline
2017 — Bear Robotics founded in May by John Ha, Juan Higueros, Fangwei Li, and Brennand Pierce. The company launched Penny, its first prototype service robot. Raised $750,000 in an angel round.
2018 — Secured $2.8 million seed round. CEO John Ha delivered the keynote on “The Future of Restaurants” at the National Restaurant Association Show.
2020 — Announced $32 million Series A funding led by SoftBank Robotics with participation from Cleveland Avenue. Launched Servi, the company’s first mass-production autonomous service robot designed for restaurant food running and table bussing.
2022 — Raised $81 million Series B led by IMM Investment with participation from Cleveland Avenue, KT Corporation, and Woowa Bros. At the time of the announcement, Bear had deployed over 5,000 robots across restaurants in the United States, South Korea, and Japan. Servi robots had collectively traveled over 335,000 miles and made over 28 million deliveries.
2024 — Secured $60 million Series C investment from LG Electronics in March, giving LG a 21% stake and a call option to acquire up to 51% total ownership. Bear used the funding to develop expanded product capabilities and international market presence.
2025 — LG Electronics exercised its call option in January and acquired an additional 30% stake for approximately $180 million, bringing total ownership to 51% and making Bear Robotics an LG subsidiary valued at approximately $600 million. LG announced integration of its CLOi Robots business with Bear while retaining Bear’s management team. Bear launched Servi Plus, the high-capacity flagship model with 88-pound payload capacity.
2026 — Unveiled Servi Q compact service robot at the National Restaurant Association Show in May, developed in collaboration with SoftBank Robotics for narrow spaces. Launched Carti industrial AMR line at MODEX in April, expanding into warehouse and factory automation. Announced definitive agreement to acquire Kinisi Robotics in June, bringing the KR1 wheeled humanoid and advanced manipulation AI to Bear’s platform. By mid-2026, Bear had shipped over 16,000 robots into commercial operation across North America, Europe, and Asia.
Market Context
Bear Robotics operates in the hospitality service robotics market, a segment driven by persistent labor shortages, high employee turnover, and rising operational costs in restaurants and hotels. The restaurant industry in particular faces structural challenges: physically demanding work, low wages, high turnover rates, and difficulty hiring and retaining staff. Bear’s robots address these issues by automating repetitive tasks like food running and table bussing, which consume significant staff time but generate no tips or direct customer interaction.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated demand for service robots as restaurants faced acute staffing shortages and sought ways to maintain service levels with fewer workers. Bear’s deployment growth from near-zero in 2019 to over 5,000 robots by March 2022 reflects this market acceleration. Major chains including Chili’s, Denny’s, and Marriott deployed Servi robots at scale, signaling enterprise validation and mainstream adoption beyond early-adopter venues.
However, the service robotics market remains fragmented and competitive. Bear competes with companies like Pudu Technology (China), KAIKAKU (Japan), and Relay Robotics (United States), among others. Tracxn data indicates Bear has 21 active competitors, including five funded startups and two companies that have exited. Chinese competitors in particular have aggressively priced service robots, often selling units for under $10,000 and creating pricing pressure in international markets. Bear’s purchase price of approximately $11,990 for Servi positions it as a premium offering, differentiated by advanced navigation software, fleet management capabilities, and NSF food service certification.
LG’s majority acquisition of Bear in January 2025 significantly shifted the competitive landscape. The deal provided Bear with LG’s manufacturing scale, global distribution channels, and commercial robotics infrastructure while giving LG access to Bear’s software platform, multi-robot coordination capabilities, and hospitality market presence. This combination allows Bear to vertically integrate hardware manufacturing and software development while leveraging LG’s enterprise customer relationships in commercial buildings, hotels, and large facilities.
Bear’s 2026 product expansion into autonomous cleaning (Servi Clean line), industrial warehouse automation (Carti AMRs), and humanoid manipulation (Kinisi acquisition) reflects a strategic shift from narrow hospitality applications to broader commercial robotics. This positions Bear to compete not only with food service robot makers but also with warehouse automation companies like Locus Robotics, 6 River Systems (Shopify), and Fetch Robotics (Zebra Technologies), as well as humanoid robotics companies building manipulation-capable platforms. The move diversifies Bear’s addressable market and revenue streams but also increases competitive intensity and technical complexity.
The company’s stated emphasis on “Physical AI” — applying AI models to work in physical spaces rather than purely digital environments — aligns with broader industry trends toward foundation models, imitation learning, and generalist robot policies. However, Bear faces the same scalability challenges as other robotics companies: achieving true generalization across diverse environments, maintaining high reliability in unstructured human spaces, and demonstrating positive unit economics at scale. The company has not publicly disclosed revenue, gross margins, or profitability metrics, and with $175 million raised and 16,000 units deployed, questions remain about whether Bear has achieved or can achieve sustainable profitability.
Investor appetite for service robotics remains strong, as evidenced by Bear’s ability to raise capital even during challenging funding environments. LG’s $600 million valuation of Bear in 2025 suggests confidence in the company’s long-term potential, though the majority acquisition structure also indicates LG’s desire for control over technology integration and strategic direction. Bear’s ability to maintain operational autonomy and product innovation under LG ownership will be a key determinant of its future trajectory.
Source Notes
This profile draws primarily from Bear Robotics’ official company history page, press releases, and verified third-party coverage from TechCrunch, The Robot Report, Restaurant Technology News, and LG Electronics’ corporate newsroom.
Funding amounts and dates are sourced from TechCrunch, The Robot Report, and Bear’s company history page. The Series B valuation (~$490-517 million) is inferred from Tracxn data and media reports; Bear did not publicly disclose the exact figure. The LG acquisition valuation of ~$600 million is based on South Korean media reports cited by TechCrunch and corroborated by the reported $180 million purchase price for 30% ownership.
Founder backgrounds are sourced from John Ha’s LinkedIn profile, TechCrunch interviews, and Korea JoongAng Daily coverage. Ha’s experience running Kang Nam Tofu House and his prior work at Google and Intel are confirmed across multiple sources.
Product details for Servi, Servi Plus, Servi Q, Servi Clean, and Carti are sourced from Bear Robotics’ product pages, RobotLAB distributor listings, and company blog announcements. Specifications such as payload capacity (66 lb for Servi, 88 lb for Servi Plus), battery life (12-hour shift on 4-hour charge), and navigation technology (LiDAR + 3D cameras) are documented on official product pages.
The Kinisi Robotics acquisition is sourced from RobotsBeat coverage and Bear’s official blog announcement. The 16,000+ deployed robot figure is cited consistently across Restaurant Technology News and RobotsBeat coverage from June-July 2026.
Partnership details with SoftBank, LG, Chili’s, Denny’s, Marriott, Compass Group, and KT Corporation are sourced from press releases, funding announcements, and company blog posts. COO Juan Higueros’ quotes regarding Cleveland Avenue’s strategic value are from The Spoon coverage of the Series B round.
Market context and competitive analysis draw on Tracxn’s competitor data, publicly reported pricing information, and industry analysis from The Robot Report and Restaurant Technology News. Unit economics and profitability status are noted as undisclosed because Bear has not published revenue or margin data.