Americans spend 15 billion hours every year shopping for groceries. All of those people would rather be doing something else.
This isn't a new idea: a dot-com called Webvan raised a Series A from Sequoia and Benchmark and 1996, and went public a few years later. 5 years later, Webvan went bankrupt and became the face of the Dot-com crash, along with other good startup ideas that came too early. 😳
Fast forward to today: Sequoia-backed Instacart just announced a $200M new funding round, valuing the company at $4.2 unicorns. 🦄
Instacart isn't the only food delivery startup out there:
🤖 Meet Kiwibot, food delivery robots for college campuses. They're also adorable, and already delivering food autonomously at Berkeley in SF.
🚌 There's Robomart, a self-driving grocery store that wants to bring fresh produce directly to your door. Launched to much fanfare at CES.
🎰 Bodega, the controversial vending machine, is still delivering all of your non-perishables with automated corner stores in your apartment building.
🥕 YC-backed Farmstead is delivering better groceries for busy people (delivered in under 60 minutes), including on-demand Lacroix.
If all of this is making you hungry, here's some augmented reality food to help tide you over until breakfast. 👀
🚨 Two big launches yesterday!
Netflix launched a new Black Mirror-style dating app that tells you your relationship’s expiration date. Check it out, carefully.
Coinbase introduced a Stripe-like competitor focused on digital currency transactions. Soon, you'll be able to pay for annnnyyything with bitcoin (if you dare). 🤑
Product Hunt uses Intercom to stay on top of hundreds of customer conversations a day, across platforms.
With Intercom's Early Stage Program, we got an impressive 90% discount on its tools, which includes an AI chatbot, help desk, and proactive support.
Intercom is behind startups all the way. Join the program to get 90% off the only AI customer service solution need and keep customers happy.
