SERV
UBER
New Deal, Who Dis?
Uber has officially sold off its entire stake in Serve Robotics, and apparently didn’t exactly send a breakup text first. Serve says it was caught off guard by the regulatory filing, which is a pretty awkward way to find out your longtime partner has moved on.
Why investors care
This isn’t just a random equity shuffle. Uber and Serve had been tied together since 2022, and the partnership grew in 2023 to potentially put up to 2,000 sidewalk robots into Uber’s app across several U.S. cities. Now the relationship looks chilly enough to make the freezer jealous.
The timing also isn’t great for Serve. The company just reported Q2 revenue of $3.28 million, below Wall Street’s $3.49 million estimate, and cut its 2026 revenue outlook hard to $9 million to $10 million from $26 million. The company blamed weaker-than-expected volume through the Uber Eats partnership, which is basically corporate-speak for “this was supposed to be bigger.”
The robot romance is fading
Serve CEO Ali Kashani said delivery volume through Uber had grown for 17 straight quarters before reversing in Q2 because robot utilization came in lower than expected. He also said the two companies have “differing views” on the autonomous fleet and operating model — which sounds a lot less like a partnership and a lot more like a couples counselor session.
Big picture: Serve is still trying to prove it can build a real business beyond Uber. That’s the whole game now: less one giant partner, more lots of smaller revenue streams so the company isn’t hitching its future to a single app icon.