Traditional methods of last-mile delivery are inefficient, unethical and expensive. We're changing that with autonomous robots.

Our Journey

When co-founder Ahti Heinla entered a NASA competition to build a robot to pick up dust samples on Mars, he was inspired to launch an earthbound mission…

robot icon
2014

Starship is founded on July 3rd 2014 and the first prototype of a delivery robot is created in August.

2015

We stealth-launched the world’s first delivery robot, modestly named ‘6C’, beginning drive-testing in European cities.

2016

By June a small fleet complete 5000km of driving, gradually learning the world around them.

By August our robots had encountered one million people.

A Starship robot rolling on a park with pedestrians
2017

Starship announces $17.2m in funding and pilots takeaway food deliveries in London.

Model ‘6E’ is released.

By September the robots had drive-tested in 100 cities and encountered 12 million people.

DELIVERIES COMPLETED
1400
Starship Robot fleet
2018

Starship launches its first commercial service in Milton Keynes, UK, delivering groceries via the Starship Deliveries mobile app.

We complete the world’s first commercial L4 autonomous driving in cities.

DELIVERIES COMPLETED
22,500
KILOMETRES TRAVELLED
130,000
GLOBAL SERVICE AREAS
5
A Starship robot rolling on the street with pedestrians
2019

We launch our first commercial service on university campuses in the US, starting with George Mason University.

By November, our robots have completed five million road crossings.

DELIVERIES COMPLETED
270,000
KILOMETRES TRAVELLED
750,000
GLOBAL SERVICE AREAS
15
A fleet of Starship robots moves across a university campus at night
2020

COVID hits and Starship provides a vital contactless delivery service to students and communities worldwide.

By the end of August, Starship robots complete 500,000 deliveries.

DELIVERIES COMPLETED
957,000
KILOMETRES TRAVELLED
2.2 million
GLOBAL SERVICE AREAS
27
A Starship robot stands at the door with a smiling family
2021

Starship robots achieve break a record milestone of one million autonomous deliveries in January – followed by two million in October.

Starship partners with leading grocery retailer, Co-op, across multiple UK locations.

Multiple universities are added in the US, and service is launched in Tallinn, Estonia.

DELIVERIES COMPLETED
2.4 million
KILOMETRES TRAVELLED
5.2 million
GLOBAL SERVICE AREAS
35
A big fleet of Starship robots in Finland
2022

Starship announces a further $100m in funding and launches service in Finland via the Starship Food Delivery app.

In October, Starship announces groundbreaking partnership with Grubhub on US campuses, with the first plans to integrate robot delivery into a partner’s e-commerce platform.

 

DELIVERIES COMPLETED
4.2 million
KILOMETRES TRAVELLED
9 million
GLOBAL SERVICE AREAS
45
Three Starship robots with an orange Grubhub sticker promoting the partnership
2023

Starship is named in Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023.

We partner with Finland’s largest retailer, S-Group to deliver groceries nationwide.

Our robots are now serving over 50 college campuses in the US, and we install the world’s first wireless charging stations for robots.

DELIVERIES COMPLETED
5.8 million
KILOMETRES TRAVELLED
12 million
GLOBAL SERVICE AREAS
74
US map with Starship locations
2024

Starship announces $90 million in funding.

Europe’s first wireless charging stations for robots are installed, and service expands to cover 100 S-Group stores in Finland.

In October, service is launched with Bolt Food.

DELIVERIES COMPLETED
7.1 million
KILOMETRES TRAVELLED
14 million
GLOBAL SERVICE AREAS
100
A Starship robot rolling on the street promoting the new Bolt partnership
Our People

Team Starship is a diverse group of innovators, engineers and visionaries united by a shared mission to revolutionise last-mile delivery.

Launched in 2014 by Skype co-founders, Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, Starship Technologies is using autonomous robots to make hyper-local delivery more cost-effective, efficient, accessible and sustainable.

Our robots deliver items such as groceries, food takeaway and packages. They have completed over 7 million deliveries and can be found in over 100 service areas around the world.

Starship’s business headquarters are in San Francisco. Engineering offices are in Estonia, R&D in Helsinki, with a UK presence in London and Milton Keynes.

Our Leadership
Ahti Heinla
CO-FOUNDER, CEO, CTO
Anneli Aljas
VP FINANCE
Valentin Naidja headshot
Valentin Naidja
SVP REVENUE
Mary Adams
GENERAL COUNSEL
Heidy Kerma
VP PEOPLE OPERATIONS AND INTERNAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Taavi Pungas
VP CLOUD SOFTWARE
Pepe Aaviksoo
SVP GLOBAL REMOTE OPERATIONS
Chris Neider
VP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
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We are building something special

We work cross-functionally in global teams, blending expertise in robotics, AI and logistics to change the world, one delivery at a time. If this appeals to you, explore Careers.

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Deliveries
7 million

More deliveries completed than any competitor.

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OUR ROBOTS

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