Piestro

Shut Down

Pizza, perfected by robots

Automated robotic pizzeria kiosk that makes fresh artisan pizzas in three minutes.

Founded January 2019El Segundo, CA11-25 people~$5M raisedFeatured at Pre-Seed

RoboticsFood TechAutomationPizzaHardwareCrowdfundingFood Service

About

Piestro was a food robotics company building automated pizza-making kiosks — compact 40-square-foot machines with a robotic arm that could spin dough, apply sauce, cheese, and toppings, and deliver a fresh 12-inch artisan pizza in under three minutes. Each unit held enough ingredients for 80 pizzas and cost approximately $60,000. Founded by Massimo Noja De Marco, a seventh-generation Italian chef and hospitality veteran who previously co-founded Kitchen United (valued at $140M), Piestro was incubated by Wavemaker Labs, a food automation venture studio. The company raised nearly $5M through equity crowdfunding campaigns on StartEngine, attracting thousands of small investors. In 2021, Piestro struck a major deal with 800 Degrees Pizza to deploy thousands of robotic kiosks under the joint venture '800 Degrees Go,' and partnered with Serve Robotics and Kiwibot for autonomous pizza delivery. Despite the buzz, Piestro struggled to deliver a working production unit. 800 Degrees Go parted ways with Piestro in late 2023 citing failure to produce a functional product, and the company shut down as part of the broader collapse of the Wavemaker Labs portfolio.

DailyDropout Take

Piestro was a compelling pitch — a seventh-generation Italian chef meets Silicon Beach robotics, building a pizza vending machine that could crank out artisan pies in three minutes. The crowdfunding traction and 800 Degrees partnership signaled real market interest, but the company ultimately couldn't deliver a production-ready unit and shut down alongside the broader Wavemaker Labs collapse.

Discovery signal: Novel food automation concept, strong founder-market fit (Kitchen United pedigree), crowdfunding traction with thousands of small investors, major QSR partnership with 800 Degrees Pizza

What Makes Them Unique

Piestro aimed to deliver a fully automated, compact pizzeria in a vending machine-sized footprint — combining dough spinning, topping, baking, and serving in a single robotic unit, with partnerships for autonomous last-mile delivery.

3 minutes

Pizza Production Time

80 pizzas

Capacity Per Unit

~$60,000

Unit Cost

~$5M

Total Raised

Target Markets

Quick Service RestaurantsGhost KitchensAirports & Transit HubsUniversitiesConvenience Locations

Founders

Massimo Noja De Marco

Founder & CEO

Seventh-generation Italian chef with 30+ years of hospitality and robotics experience. Previously co-founded Kitchen United, which raised $50M and was valued at $140M.