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Jay-Z Invests Big Money in a Robo Pizza Truck That's Solving a Major Food Industry Problem The food truck is "basically a spaceship on wheels," says former SpaceX engineer and Stellar Pizza CEO Benson Tsai.

By Sam Silverman Edited by Jessica Thomas

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Jay-Z is putting his money behind a new robot-operated pizza truck business with big plans to change the food industry.

He invested in Stellar Pizza, a restaurant on wheels that can churn out 420 pizzas a day and cook a single pie in less than five minutes thanks to its robot technology, according to a press release obtained by Fortune. The artist-turned-entrepreneur led the $16.5 million funding round through his venture capital firm Marcy Venture Partners (MVP).

The truck was designed to reduce the cost of labor and commercial rent while still serving a tasty product. The company's debut comes as the food service industry continues to struggle to retain workers. The industry has had the highest consistent quit rate of 5.4% since July 2021 due to traditionally low wages and the surge in remote work, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Stellar Pizza co-founders Benson Tsai, Brian Langone and James Wahawisan are all former SpaceX engineers.

"What we're trying to do is very hard; I needed to recruit the best and the brightest to develop a mobile pizza machine that is basically a spaceship on wheels," Tsai says, per Fortune. "I can't even count the number of pizzas."

Stellar Pizza, which can also deliver pizzas right to your door, is set to open at the University of Southern California this fall.

Sam Silverman

Content Strategy Editor

Sam Silverman is a content strategy editor at Entrepreneur Media. She specializes in search engine optimization (SEO), and her work can be found in The US Sun, Nicki Swift, In Touch Weekly, Life & Style and Health. She writes for our news team with a focus on investigating scandals. Her coverage and expertise span from business news, entrepreneurship, technology, and true crime, to the latest in entertainment and TV news. Sam is a graduate of Lehigh University and currently resides in NYC. 

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