When the cold wave comes, you can also know who is swimming naked.
Editor’s note: This article comes from the WeChat public account “ qubits ” (ID: QbitAI), Qianming XIII
In the beginning of 2020, another star robot company in Silicon Valley, named Zume, was once known as “Robot + Pizza”. It also received Sun Zhengyi’s SoftBank vision investment.
In the latest round of financing, the valuation claimed to reach $ 4 billion, with the goal of becoming “the Amazon of the food sector.”
It can be said that the spring breeze is proud and flourishing. But who can think of adjustments coming so fast.
After a series of executive departures, Zume finally heard news of layoffs: more than 400 people, accounting for more than 80%.
Zume Pizza, its core star business, uses robots to make pizzas.
At this time, it was less than 2 months from the time it was reported to raise a new round of financing at a $ 4 billion valuation.
Such a plot is like pressing the brakes at high speed.
Because of the high-profile publicity of “robot + pizza” and “AI + pizza”, they have also been named “AI death” abroad.
But what is the truth? Let’s take a closer look at the ins and outs.
Cut off core business: Pizza robots
According to CNBC, the founder of Zume issued an internal letter stating that in order to advance the company’s latest development vision.
Decided to close the company’s core business, Zume Pizza.
This is also Zume’s best-known business, and also their testbed for “subverting the video industry with robotics and automation.”
It once became one of the representatives of Silicon Valley’s cutting-edge technology.
But now, when I open Zume Pizza’s website again, I can no longer place an order, but leave a paragraph:
After four great years, we ’ve served our last slice of pie. Thanks for following our journey to make and deliver better pizza. Happy eating!
Four years have passed and we have served our last pizza. Thank you for accompanying us through this journey. Have fun!
Along with business adjustments, Zume also ushered in a major layoff.
According to foreign media Business Insider, most of the 400 people laid off were concentrated in the company’s technology, operations and development departments.
The Seattle office, which consists of engineers, will also be completely removed in this layoff.
According to its CEO Alex Garden, Zume did not die completely after the fall, and will focus on food packaging and distribution services, such as serving lunch boxes to another traditional Pizza Pizza company.
As far as fame is concerned, the robot pizza business that has earned enough eyeballs or raised financing for Zume has become history.
It also means that this route, this story, clearly failed.
SoftBank overweight, once valued at 4 billion US dollars, to be Amazon in the food sector
Zume was founded in September 2015. At first, it was aggressively publicized, saying that it was committed to using robots to solve the problem of low efficiency in the traditional pizza industry.
In the publicity, Zume said that using robot chefs to make pizzas, hundreds of pizzas can be made and delivered in one hour, which is much more efficient than human chefs.
In April 2016, after the delivery of the first batch of pizzas, they were enthusiastically sought after. As a result, an anxiety about “human beings will be replaced by robots” was blown up in Silicon Valley.
After winning the starter, Zume has ushered in a rapid development phase, sending robots to more restaurants on the one hand and flowing pizza production on the other.
In 2017, Zume launched oven trucks, each equipped with 6 ovens, which can make pizza while the vehicle is traveling, and also applied for a patent for an automated pizza oven on a delivery truck.
Officially, in this way, pizza can be delivered to consumers in just 20 minutes. In contrast, delivery of a pizza in the United States usually takes 50 minutes to start.
At the same time, a variety of cutting-edge technologies, such as big data, machine learning, and logistics management have also been added. Founder and CEO Alex Garden has also made a bold statement: before users place orders, they can know that they want to eat What kind of pizza.
In October of the same year, Zume Pizza completed a new round of financing, with a total amount of 48 million U.S. dollars.
His ambitions have also begun to show, shouting “Amazon in the food field.”
The company structure has also been adjusted: In addition to the pizza business, Zume has established a new Zume parent company, saying it will expand more new categories and brands.
This ambitious vision of subverting the global catering industry can’t escape Sun Zhengyi’s small eyes.
In November 2018, the SoftBank Vision Fund invested $ 375 million in the pizza robot company, and its valuation was pushed to $ 1 billion to promote unicorns.
Before that, Zume’s valuation was only 218 million US dollars, and all the financing together was only 71 million US dollars.
Like many investment cases of SoftBank’s vision, Zume is like a giant baby company, and it is instantly ripened.
This is also the moment when Zume is the highlight. But it is also at this time that the seeds of the robot pizza business have fallen.
The vision of “Amazon in the food industry” is ahead. Robots making pizza are obviously no longer Zume’s main business.
The company has basically shifted to an enterprise model. With its experience in making pizza with robots, it has transformed into a data and logistics provider, and has reached cooperation with kitchens, pizzerias, and takeaway distributors.
It all looks great together.
As of December 2019, when SoftBank was trapped in the quagmire of Uber and Wework,It is reported that Son Zhengyi is preparing to make another investment in Zume, bringing its valuation to $ 4 billion.
What is this concept?
You know, the countless Pizza Hut and Domino’s stores have valuations of only $ 8 billion and $ 11 billion.
A company with limited landings can achieve such a valuation by “concept”?
It’s not commercial.
Behind the rapid development, the main business is abandoned
At that time, Zume used the huge investment of SoftBank Vision to quickly begin to expand the company’s size and increase its staff.
The line originally envisaged may be this: relying on the story of robots and AI to “subvert” and gain fame; financing, expanding the scale, and achieving replication; and finally realizing subversion.
However, Zume’s grand plan has not been realized because as a food company, the core shortcomings have been exposed during the expansion:
Pizza made by robots is unpalatable. Many users who have tasted pizza are even more outspoken. The texture and taste of the pasta taste like cardboard.
There are very few toppings, and there is nothing similar to the colorful vegetables on the website.
It is said that automation is applied to pizza production, but for slightly more complex processes, such as adding pizza, manual operations are still required.
As for its core competitiveness, delivery speed, there is also a user experience: the initial delivery time of the order was 27 minutes, but it took 50 minutes to arrive at home. It’s a far cry from Zume’s vision of delivering pizza to home in 20 minutes.
So it ’s only a matter of time before the bubble bursts and the story can’t be told.
Fake AI and fake robots can’t stand the test
The collapse of Zume’s pizza robot also caused more discussion and thinking. After all, this is not the first AI and robotics company to fall in 2019.
Manipulators and robots are not new, but since the revival of deep learning, AI has become an important carrier of “soft and hard integration” and has been redefined. All robots and manipulator companies have also entered the AI sequence. Won a more sexy way.
So more “ideal and beautiful” stories are beginning to emerge. Pizza robot is one of them.
Zume tells stories, using high-efficiency robotic armsTo replace expensive labor, reduce costs and increase efficiency, you can also “mobile” and turn the pizza pipeline into a mobile dining car, which greatly reduces costs and improves efficiency in production, production and distribution.
In addition, pizza can also use user feedback and big data to become more and more “personalized”, iterate continuously, and become more delicious.
Does the vision seem familiar? Can “Pizza” be replaced by many other noun pronouns?
However, when the market is good, you can still raise funds. If you can’t get the goods and encounter the cold wave, you have to “harden the iron by yourself.”
Also, whether it is AI + or Robot +, the final delivered product must stand the test.
A company that makes pizza. Pizza is not delicious. Who cares if you make it with your machine or AI?
Do machine-made pizzas need to be “understand”?
Of course, the commercial, large-scale landing, and revenue aspects cannot be further tested.
A cool “prototype” pizza dining car may be easy to make. It is difficult to replicate it on a large scale. The core technical route has not passed the test of landing in the market.
There are tens of thousands of market laws, and the first of value laws. Is there any reason for such a company and business?
In the final analysis, such companies seem to have nothing to do with AI and robotics companies, but story companies that use “AI” and “robots” to disguise …
There are so many in every new technology era.
Some people are holding “Internet thinking” to reshape pancakes, some are using “data drive” to make coffee, and after AlphaGo, they are holding more and more AI and robot shells.
Now, the business cycle test, the market test, it’s time to liquidate and squeeze the bubbles.
Who does the death knell ring for? The death knell sounds for these “pseudo-technology” companies, and for businesses that don’t solve the underlying problem.
You stillKnow about companies and cases like this “pseudo-technology”?
The author is the signing author of NetEase News · NetEase’s “Everyone’s Attitude”