“Can autonomous sidewalk robots become the default last-mile delivery infrastructure for grocery, food, and industrial supply chains globally?”
Founded in 2014 by Skype co-founder Ahti Heinla, Starship Technologies built the world's first commercially deployed Level 4 autonomous delivery robots, launching its first commercial service in Milton Keynes, UK in 2018. The company scaled from campus and grocery delivery to multi-vertical operations across 8 countries, integrating with major food delivery apps (Uber Eats, Just Eat) to embed robot delivery as a last-mile fulfilment option. The embedded finance angle is largely operational — consumer payment acceptance via app, age verification via Veriff for alcohol delivery, and corporate spend management via Payhawk — rather than offering financial products to third parties.
Starship discloses nbkc bank as its banking provider, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Starship does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through nbkc bank.
Starship uses Veriff for KYC and identity verification.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 3 layers in Starship's stack: Banking / BaaS (nbkc bank); KYC (Veriff); Spend / AP (Payhawk).
Starship was founded by Ahti Heinla and is founded in 2014, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, USA (US entity); Milton Keynes, UK (UK entity).
Starship has raised ~$117.2M+ in total (latest round: Series C, October 2025).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Starship and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.