Robot barista to be deployed in Japan

Robot barista ELLA will be situated across stations of passenger train line.

Retail tech startup Crown Technologies has secured a strategic, cross-border investment from Japan’s JR East to deploy AI-powered robot barista ELLA in Japan.

ELLA will be rolled out across stations of Japan’s passenger train line operator, which serves an average of 17 million passengers daily, in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“Japan has long been known to embrace innovation and be at the forefront of using AI and robotics to solve social issues and achieve economic growth. By placing their bet on our technology that we’ve built in Singapore to serve the exact purpose, it not only puts us on the map, but is also the strongest testament to the vision that my team and I have worked tirelessly to build upon in the last two years,” Crown Technologies founder Keith Tan said.

With this, Crown Technologies will be launching its Series A round shortly, as well as the deployment of 30 additional commercial units of ELLA across Singapore.

The people you want to reach are already in this room.

Every quarter, SBR lands on the desks of the founders, CFOs, and directors running Asia's most consequential companies. Every day, they open our newsletter and read our website. It's a room that took twenty years to build — and it's the one most of our partners are trying to get into.

The good news is that the door is open. We work with companies on thought leadership articles, sponsored content, industry summits across Southeast Asia, regional awards programmes, podcasts, and media placements in print and digital. The shape of the right partnership depends on what you're trying to do, which is why we'd rather start with a conversation than send a rate card.

If you have something this room should know about, tell us. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.

No rate cards until we understand the brief. It's a better use of everyone's time.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia