Funding controversy
Saudi-backed investment in Zume raises questions
When is raising a lot of money bad news?
When the money comes from Saudi Arabia — and comes with questions company executives may not want to answer.
That may be the situation faced by Zume Pizza, a Mountain View company known for delivering hot, fresh pizzas with a lot of tech but not a lot of controversy. It became embroiled in international affairs after a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this month revealed that it had raised $375 million. The Wall Street Journal reported that the money came from the SoftBank Vision Fund, a $100 billion tech investing vehicle largely backed by Saudi Arabia.
Silicon Valley firms are debating the ethics of taking money from the Saudis ever since the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who was critical of Saudi rulers. After initial denials, Saudi officials admitted
that the kingdom’s security forces killed Khashoggi in a botched operation.
It is estimated that Saudi Arabia has committed about $45 billion to the Vision Fund. SoftBank has invested in Uber, Nvidia, San Francisco self-driving car developer Cruise and food-delivery startup DoorDash, among many others.
Zume makes pizzas with robots in its kitchen, which finish baking in special trucks while en route to customers, who order through an app. The company, which started delivering pizzas in 2016, has said it’s looking to license its “baked-on-the-way” trucks to restaurants to shake up how food is prepared and delivered.
Zume declined to comment on its funding or answer other questions.
Zume CEO and co-founder Alex Garden has described the company’s trucks in the past as “a fully deployed kitchen.”
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