Wilko Invests in Autonomous Delivery Company StreetDrone
Retailers and consumers will benefit from the cost savings associated with StreetDrone's autonomous delivery vehicles.
Wilko, the high street retailer, today announced a significant investment in StreetDrone, the UK’s leading autonomous delivery company.
The £3 million investment will provide the retailer with a significant stake in the business, positioning it at the forefront of retail technology investments in the rapidly growing autonomous vehicle industry.
StreetDrone will use the investment, which is part of a larger multi-million-pound pre-series A round, to accelerate the development of its autonomous delivery vehicle and systems.
StreetDrone’s Pix-E autonomous delivery vehicle is a small, light, and silent electric vehicle that makes kerbside deliveries to customers’ homes securely and safely.
The investment is a critical component of Wilko’s long-term strategy to strengthen its omnichannel model in response to rapidly changing consumer behaviors accelerated by the pandemic.
Wilko’s ambition is to eventually provide customers with access to new digitally enabled services, such as autonomous retail deliveries, that will enhance their shopping experience and make it easier to find the products they need for their homes and gardens.
StreetDrone intends to deploy driverless delivery vehicles on UK roads by the end of 2023 and is collaborating with UK-based vehicle safety agencies to define the standards that will allow these technologies to operate on public roads.
Jonathan Griffin, Director of WilkinsonFuture, will join the firm’s Board of Directors and oversee the investment on behalf of wilko as part of the investment.
Jerome Saint-Marc, CEO of wilko said, “Autonomous vehicles are the future of automated logistics, and StreetDrone is undoubtedly one of the key players that will lead the way in making this technology viable. It has gone from strength to strength over the last four years and is one of the companies that’s putting the UK on the map in developing this type of game-changing technology.
“One of the key reasons why we’re backing the team at StreetDrone is that this sort of transformative technology can have a huge and positive impact for hard-working families – and it’s this ethos that runs through all of our work at wilko. Ultimately, it has the potential to reduce costs for customers when deployed in the retail sector. We look forward to supporting them on this journey.”
Mike Potts, Founder and CEO of StreetDrone said, “We are delighted to have the support of a major UK retailer. wilko will help us realise our aim of bringing autonomous last-mile services to UK and European roads, to the benefit of both retailers and consumers. Our technology, aligned with wilko’s determined strategy to enrich the lives of its customers, is the perfect fusion of our capability and their requirement.”
Jonathan Griffin, Director of WilkinsonFuture said, “We were very excited when we met StreetDrone and would have happily added them directly to our portfolio of young businesses. However, it is even better that wilko shared that view and I look forward to supporting them and seeing both businesses, one new and one over 90 years young, flourishing together.”