mia&noa's Coffee Robot Might Just Save the Planet, One Re-useable Cup at a Time (full version)

Plus, a chat with Green Cow VC's Maggie Sprenger, Ag Bots and... murder.

I was vibrating with excitement after my video chat with mia&noa Co-Founder and CEO Maren Knief Clerc this week — I couldn’t wait to write about the company. No, I wasn’t buzzing from too much mia&noa coffee. Rather, I was struck by the one small simple twist Clerc’s company is bringing to the world of automated beverage kiosks. You see, in order to use a mia&noa coffee machine, you have to bring your own cup.

At first blush, the idea of making people bring their own cup seems like a huge barrier to getting customers. Robot baristas are meant for convenience in high-traffic areas like airports and hospitals. Walk up to the machine, get your cup of coffee, and go. I don’t know about you, but I typically don’t (and don’t want to) bring a mug as a carry-on when I fly.

But there is a method to mia&noa’s “madness.” Instead of setting up at transient high-traffic locations — where people are just passing through to somewhere else — mia&noa is installing machines at locations where the same …