Wonder and Serve Robotics bring robot delivery to Grubhub marketplace in Chicago, Los Angeles, Alexandria
Wonder is partnering with Serve Robotics to bring autonomous delivery to customers in Chicago, Los Angeles and Alexandria on the Grubhub marketplace. The launch expands robot delivery across more than 100 participating merchants in Chicago and nearly 200 in Los Angeles, while also bringing the technology to Wonder’s Potomac Yard location in Alexandria.
"A year ago, our robots were delivering dinner in a handful of neighbourhoods. Today they serve three of the country's largest delivery platforms, they're rolling into new cities from San Jose to the nation's capital and their hospital cousins are showing up in health systems across the country," says Ali Kashani, Co-Founder and CEO at Serve Robotics. "Welcoming Wonder and Grubhub to our network is the clearest signal yet of where we are headed. Every new partner puts more robots to work and every delivery makes the whole fleet smarter."
"We're constantly looking for ways to make the customer experience more convenient and reliable," says PJ Poykayil, EVP of Customer Delivery Operations at Wonder. "Our partnership with Serve brings autonomous delivery to Grubhub customers in Chicago, Los Angeles and Alexandria while also enabling robot delivery from our Potomac Yard location in Alexandria. As we continue to grow, partnerships like this help us expand delivery options, improve efficiency and create a more seamless mealtime experience."
Funding
Wonder recently announced a $650 million Series D round at a pre-money valuation of $9 billion.
The round has participation from existing investors, including Accel, GV (Google Ventures) and New Enterprise Associates (NEA). New backers include certain funds managed by AllianceBernstein, ARK Invest and funds managed by Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management.
The funding will support Wonder's physical expansion, marketplace growth, and investments in technology, robotics and artificial intelligence. The company is set to go public in 2027 or 2028.
“Wonder was founded with the mission to make great food more accessible,” said Wonder head honcho Marc Lore. “By building the technology, robotics and infrastructure behind a new kind of food platform, we’re making high quality food more affordable, more convenient and available to more people than ever before. This funding allows us to accelerate that mission.”
“It’s been exciting to watch the evolution of what Wonder is building - a fundamentally new way for people to access great food, at a level of quality and speed traditional players can’t match,” said Tony Florence, Co-CEO at NEA. “Our ongoing investment reflects our confidence in that model and in Marc’s ability to continue executing at scale.”
“Wonder is disrupting an industry that has been slow to change with the kind of scalable, innovative model that we look for across the ARK portfolio,” said Cathie Wood, Founder, CEO and CIO at ARK Invest. "We believe Wonder’s technology forward platform is redefining the economics and experience of restaurant quality food at scale and we're thrilled to support Marc and his team as they continue to execute on that vision."
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
Autonomous delivery will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.
The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Check out our 2025 winners here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
