Serve Robotics (NASDAQ:SERV) used its fourth quarter 2025 earnings call to highlight a rapid scale-up of its autonomous delivery fleet and a broadening business model that now includes advertising, software, early data monetization, and healthcare robotics following a recent acquisition.
Fleet scale and market expansion
Co-founder and CEO Ali Kashani said the company finished 2025 with 2,000 robots activated across 20 distinct cities in six major metropolitan areas, stretching “from Los Angeles all the way to the Washington, D.C., corridor.” During the year, Serve launched Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, and Miami and “expanded aggressively” in existing markets. Kashani said the company also added DoorDash alongside Uber Eats, which he said provides access to over 80% of the U.S. food delivery market through the two platforms combined.
Strategic acquisitions and a “flywheel” strategy
Management repeatedly referenced a four-step “flywheel” built around data collection, model improvement, deployment at scale, and monetization. Kashani said Serve completed four strategic acquisitions since early 2025, with each intended to strengthen parts of that loop.
- Diligent Robotics: Adds an indoor domain in healthcare with a fleet of nearly 100 “Moxi” robots. Kashani said Moxi robots have completed over 1 million deliveries across more than 25 hospitals.
- Vayu Robotics: Adds an end-to-end physical AI modeling team, with an emphasis on training across operating domains (indoors and outdoors).
- Phantom Auto: Adds a connectivity and remote assistance stack, which Kashani said supports low-latency supervision and also generates training data when supervisors assist robots in real time.
- Weebo: Kashani said this acquisition supports monetization by boosting partnerships with restaurants and major quick-service restaurant (QSR) brands.
In discussing the Diligent acquisition, Kashani said integration is underway and that Serve is “already starting to integrate” its platform capabilities with Moxi robots, while noting the work “will take some time.” CFO Brian Read added that the company views Diligent’s contracts as established recurring revenue agreements that differ from Serve’s food delivery demand cycle.
Fourth quarter and full-year financial results
Read reported fourth quarter revenue of $0.9 million, up over 400% year-over-year. For the full year, Serve posted $2.7 million in revenue, above its prior $2.5 million guidance and representing 46% growth versus the prior year.
On the revenue mix, Read said fleet revenue was $0.7 million in Q4, up 50% sequentially. He also said branding delivered “record bookings” and that the company recorded its first revenues related to data monetization in the quarter. Software revenue was over $200,000 in Q4, and Read said the company’s recurring software base represented approximately 70% of software revenues. He also noted that underlying recurring revenues (excluding one-time agreements) grew over 3x during the year.
Operationally, Kashani said Serve deployed its 2,000th robot in mid-December and deployed nearly 1,000 robots in Q4 alone. He added that delivery volume rose 53% quarter-over-quarter in Q4 and roughly 270% for the full year compared with 2024. Kashani also said the merchant base expanded to over 4,500 restaurants and retail partners, up from roughly 400 a year earlier, and that Serve now reaches over 1.7 million households across its metro areas, covering a population of over 3.75 million people.
Margins in Q4 reflected the large deployment wave, Read said, because newly introduced robot cohorts initially run below steady-state efficiency. He reported that average daily operating hours per robot climbed 56% to over 12 hours versus Q4 of the prior year, and said cost per delivery trended down quarter-over-quarter during the year.
On expenses, Read said GAAP operating expenses were $34.3 million in Q4. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding $6.3 million of stock-based compensation, operating expenses were $25.2 million. R&D spending was $15.9 million GAAP (or $12.8 million non-GAAP), and G&A was $11.1 million GAAP (or $6 million non-GAAP), with G&A down $2 million from the prior quarter.
Read also highlighted nearly $2 million of interest income for the quarter and a $3.8 million tax benefit tied to deferred tax liabilities from the Vayu acquisition, which resulted in a partial release of the company’s valuation allowance. Serve ended the year with $260 million in cash and marketable securities. Capital expenditures were $16.5 million in Q4, which Read characterized as the “tail end” of costs related to the 2,000-unit build. Adjusted EBITDA was negative $28 million.
2026 outlook: higher revenue guidance, moderated capex, and healthcare contribution
Read said the company is raising 2026 revenue guidance to approximately $26 million, primarily due to the Diligent Robotics acquisition. He said Serve moderated planned 2026 capital expenditures to help fund the deal, redirecting a portion of planned near-term fleet investment toward what he described as a significant healthcare market opportunity expected to contribute roughly $7 million of revenue during 2026, “primarily through recurring healthcare contracts.”
For 2026, Read guided to capital expenditures of approximately $25 million associated with production and deployment of additional robots. He said recent acquisitions are expected to increase the company’s 2026 operating base by approximately $20 million to $30 million, and projected non-GAAP operating expenses of approximately $160 million to $170 million.
Deployment pacing and international expansion
In the Q&A session, Kashani said Serve expects to deploy “thousands more robots” over the next few years, but indicated the company is focused near term on optimizing utilization of the current fleet before accelerating additional deployments. He described multiple steps between manufacturing and full utilization, including depot creation, hiring and training, municipal requirements, neighborhood activation with delivery partners, and merchant onboarding. Kashani said Serve expects to have the existing robots “fully active, daily” by the middle of the year before shifting more attention to additional manufacturing, noting supply chain lead times.
On international expansion, Kashani said Serve is in active discussions with city officials and partners across multiple countries and is evaluating dense urban markets where municipal governments are receptive to sidewalk robots. However, he said the company intends to remain disciplined, weighing U.S. opportunities against overseas markets, and characterized international launches as “ultimately” more of a 2027 opportunity, with 2026 focused on laying the groundwork.
About Serve Robotics (NASDAQ:SERV)
Serve Robotics develops and operates autonomous sidewalk delivery robots designed to transform last-mile logistics for restaurants, retailers and grocery brands. By combining proprietary hardware, sensor suites and dispatch software, the company enables on-demand deliveries of food, beverages and consumer goods while minimizing reliance on traditional vehicle fleets.
The core Serve robot integrates four-wheeled mobility, LiDAR and vision cameras with AI-driven navigation algorithms to detect obstacles, traverse urban sidewalks and interact safely with pedestrians.
