p!ng

Americans spend nearly $110 billion a year on coffee. They love it, but don’t want to wait for it.

Thirty percent of customers forgo a trip to Starbucks or Dunkin’ if the line is too long. That’s eight billion dollars in lost sales.

p!ng aims to capture these sales. This company has developed fast coffee drive-thru stations, powered by robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). These stations look like storage pods, but are designed to quickly serve coffee 24/7.

p!ng has already raised funds from venture-capital firms and has received a six-figure grant from MassRobotics Accelerator. Last year, the company was recognized as one of the top 100 robotics startups to watch in the world.

p!ng is raising capital to build three more pods in 2026 and to prepare to scale up with licensees in 2027.

Team Background

Jane Lo - Co-Founder

Jane presents herself as p!ng’s “customer experience co-founder.”

Prior to starting the company, she was a senior analyst with Forrester, a research and advisory service. Before that, she spent two years as a customer experience and brand manager with Samsonite, a consumer-products brand.

She began her career as a product manager and then brand manager with Shark Ninja, makers of kitchen and household appliances. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Cell Biology from UC Berkeley and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Rob Whitten - Co-Founder

Rob is p!ng’s “technical co-founder.”

Most recently, he spent five years with Amazon, working as a program manager in its robotics division and then serving as its Robotics Business Lead. Prior to that, he owned Morning Salute, a veteran-owned breakfast food truck and catering business.

Earlier in his career, Rob worked for iRobot, the company making robot vacuums. He joined this company as spending three years as a program manager with BAE Systems, a defense-manufacturing company. Rob is a U.S. military veteran, having served in the U.S. Army as a platoon leader and brigade operations officer.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering from West Point and a Master’s degree in Program Management from the University of New Hampshire.

Co-Investors