TALLINN, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Starship Technologies, a companyset up by two founders of video messaging business Skype, hasraised another $40 million to expand its delivery robotbusiness, it said on Tuesday.
The company's six-wheel robots, reminiscent of sciencefiction films, have already been used in more than 100 countriesfor last-mile delivery of food, groceries, and small packages.
The latest funding will be used to expand its service tomore university campuses in the United States, it said in astatement.
Companies from Amazon and Nuro in the United States toDeutsche Post and TwinswHeel in Europe are investing inautomated delivery to try to improve customer service and cutcosts.
Starship's latest investment round was led by MorpheusVentures, with participation from previous investors includingShasta Ventures, Matrix Partners and MetaPlanet Holdings, aswell as new investors including TDK Ventures and Qu Ventures.
Starship was set up by Skype co-founders Janus Friis andAhti Heinla, and has raised a total of $85 million so far. Itsmain engineering office is in Estonia, while it is headquarteredin the United States.(Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Mark Potter)