Singapore’s Qualgro leads $11.2m round for French robotics startup

Singapore-based venture capital firm Qualgro led a roughly US$11.2 million series A funding round for Pazzi, a brand and development company spun out of the French robotics and foodtech startup Ekim.

Peter Huynh, co-founder of Qualgro, told Tech in Asia that the investment comes from its new US$100 million fund announced last year, adding that the fund will be closing “imminently.”

Qualgro’s founders (L to R): Heang Chhor, Jason Edwards, and Peter Huynh / Photo credit: Qualgro

In addition to some investments in Europe, the fund will also focus on startups in Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and, potentially, Japan, Huynh said.

“We feel that Qualgro is well-positioned to invest in opportunities in Europe, including businesses that have an interest to expand into Asia, where we can help with expansion.”

France-based Pazzi will use the fresh funds to further improve its flagship pizza-making robot and speed up the development of its next robots. It will also open a fully autonomous pilot restaurant manned by the pizzaiolo robots in September.

French fund Eutopia, global investment firm Partech, VC firm Daphni, as well as American and Swiss entrepreneurs from investment association The Merchant Club also participated in Pazzi’s series A round.