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 due to a problem known as “line balk.”

“Long drive-thru lines are one of the number one reasons for not visiting Starbucks,” former company Chief Marketing Officer Brady Brewer said.

Line balk is due to coffee shops struggling to hire and retain baristas, as well as drive-thru designs that can’t keep up with demand. With up to ninety percent of coffee sales now going through drive-thrus, this is a major problem. And p!ng has a solution.

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.

Every step of the ordering experience has been intentionally designed. This includes the easy ordering process — done via p!ng’s mobile app — the customization options, and memorable personal touches like custom AI-generated labels.

Just order your favorite drink on the app, drive to any pod, and your drink will be made in seconds. Each pod can make 360 drinks per hour. And each one has two windows that are serviced by independent robots.

The pods are 120 square feet, about 10x less than traditional suburban coffee shops. Only a power hookup is needed, which is augmented with solar panels on the pod’s roof. No water, sewer, or pad sites are necessary. Patent-pending technology includes height-adjusting windows.

p!ng has partnered with Cometeer, one of the world’s leading coffee-tech companies, to supply the coffee. Its extraction process enables p!ng to have no waste and advanced storage capacity within the pods. Pods also serve tea, lemonade, and various refreshers.

At scale, each p!ng pod generates $500,000 of unit volume with lower operating costs than a standard coffee shop. Continuous operation captures all peak drink times, including morning rush and afternoon “treats.”

p!ng uses a robotics-as-a-service licensing model. Licensees can get started with a $150,000 payment that secures their pod. A monthly fee covers pod maintenance and restocking, which is provided by the company to ensure a high-quality customer experience. Compare these costs to as much as $1.8 million to set up a new Dunkin’ coffee store.

Licensees are responsible for finding and securing locations, providing on-site customer service, and community marketing efforts. Licensees and p!ng share profits.

During a three-month pilot, sixty-seven percent of orders were from returning customers, despite no loyalty program in place. “Super users” came back as many as thirty-five times.

p!ng has a paid licensee waitlist with interest coming from the U.S. and internationally. Many licensees have owned and operated food & beverage companies, as well as restaurants.

Beyond individual licensees, p!ng projects to create white-label partnerships with independent cafes and fast-food chains. Other opportunities include mobile trailers for festivals and concerts, walk-up formats for urban environments, and rural expansion into coffee deserts where traditional shops can’t survive economically.

p!ng has raised $635,000 to date. It’s received funds from venture-capital firms and a $100,000 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 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