Valqari is looking to launch a retail, single-family version of its drone delivery smart locker later this year, and is working to get the cost of it below $1,500. Valqari Co-Founder and CEO Ryan Walsh laid out the company’s plans during his presentation on StartEngine Shark Pitch with Kevin O’Leary (Mr. Wonderful of Shark Tank) today.
Valqari makes drop-off lockers for drone delivery. These lockers are installed in a fixed location, and drones carrying food or packages land on top of them. The food or package is shuttled from the drone to a designated locker where a customer or delivery person retrieves them via a mobile app.
Walsh spoke at our ArticulATE food robotics conference back in May. While that conversation focused mainly on B2B operations (i.e., restaurants flying meals to Valqari lockers for a third-party delivery person to pick up), he did mention that consumer versions were on the company’s roadmap.
During his pitch, O’Leary asked Walsh mainly about Valqari’s patents and the B2B applications and costs for the service, and the topic of food delivery was not raised in their conversation. Walsh said that there will be a number of payment options (lease versus buy), but O’Leary pressed for actual numbers. Walsh said that the cost would be between $32,000 and $35,000 for the hardware plus a $300/month subscription for business use. Walsh then said that Valqari will launch a single-family version of its locker later this year with the company “working” to bring the cost for that down below $1,500 with an undisclosed monthly subscription. Walsh also said that Valqari revenues are projected to be $12 million in 2022.
The idea of having a smart drone delivery platform in your front yard is enticing. Drone delivery of food, in particular makes a lot of sense when you consider how fast a hot meal can arrive at your door. But even if a retail version of Valqari’s lockers were available later this year in the U.S., drone delivery is still very new and not available everywhere. Big retailers like Kroger and Walmart are already running pilot programs, but laws and regulations around drone delivery are still being worked out. So before you plunk down $1,500, make sure that fancy drone mailbox won’t just sit unused at the end of your driveway.
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