Apptronik, a College of Texas spin-out that was quietly constructing humanoid robots earlier than it turned fairly so trendy, on Thursday introduced a $350 million Sequence A spherical of financing. B Capital and Capital Manufacturing facility co-led the spherical, which additionally featured participation from Google, whose DeepMind division is partnering with Apptronik to ship embodied AI for bipedal robots.
“What 2025 is about for Apptronik and the humanoid industry is really demonstrating useful work in these applications with these initial early adopters and customers,” CEO Jeff Cardenas tells TechCrunch. “And then true commercialization and scaling happening in 2026 and beyond. That’s what this raise is designed to do.”
The Austin-based startup had raised a comparatively modest $28 million mixed previous to this spherical. Cardenas says the earlier objective was to generate extra income than cash raised – a objective he says the eight-year-old startup achieved throughout that point. That income got here by the use of pilot offers — together with with Mercedes and GXO Logistics — and by promoting robots outright. For now, nevertheless, the objective of producing extra income than fundraising goes to should go on-hold for some time.
Apptronik’s humanoid work dates all the best way again to 2013, three years previous to its founding. It was then that members of the College of Austin at Texas’s Human Centered Robotics Lab competed within the NASA-DARPA Robotics Problem, an effort that centered round a humanoid robotic known as Valkyrie. Since then, the area company has maintained a partnership with Apptronik as the corporate has readied its personal era of humanoids, together with its present humanoid, Apollo.
Cardenas factors to that decade-plus of humanoid expertise as a major differentiator between Apptronik and opponents like Determine, 1X, and Tesla. Boston Dynamics and Agility Robotics have lengthy histories, as nicely, however Apptronik is a seasoned veteran within the class in comparison with a lot of the competitors.
Google DeepMind
That historical past could clarify why Google’s DeepMind AI workforce has been working with Apptronik to construct robotic behavioral fashions. Their “strategic partnership” is analogous in nature to others within the trade. Final week, Boston Dynamics introduced a tie-up with The Robotics & AI institute. That adopted an analogous deal between the Spot-maker and Toyota Analysis Institute that’s aimed toward bettering how robots be taught.
All are indicators of a a lot larger pattern, together with OpenAI’s a number of offers within the area. The ChatGPT-maker has invested in each 1X and Determine. Final August, Determine introduced that it will additional leverage OpenAI fashions to develop pure speech conversations for its personal 02 robotic, although final week, the outfit introduced new plans; going ahead, it should transfer all of its AI improvement in-house.
“We found that to solve embodied AI at scale in the real world, you have to vertically integrate robot AI,” Determine CEO Brett Adcock informed TechCrunch final week. “We can’t outsource AI for the same reason we can’t outsource our hardware.”
Apptronik could in the end make the identical alternative, however for now, a Google DeepMind partnership makes much more sense for the startup than the extra funding required to construct bespoke humanoid AI fashions in-house. “We believe that right now, Google is at the top of the game, and building some of the best models in the world,” Cardenas says.
Placing robots to work
Scaling and manufacturing are the magic phrases for Apptronik’s A spherical. Apptronik’s present headcount is simply north of 170 folks, and it’s planning a 50% enhance over the subsequent 12 months.
Nonetheless, Cardenas is pragmatic about timelines in a class that may be quick to overpromise and underdeliver. Cardenas tells TechCrunch that Apptronik has but to maneuver past the pilot stage with any of its partnerships. For all the pleasure round humanoids, it’s nonetheless key for firms to take a measured method to the class, addressing issues like security considerations and reliability previous to scaling the know-how in a significant manner.
Within the meantime, the corporate has a handful of ongoing pilots, together with Mercedes, which makes for a pure alternative. Automotive manufacturing has been the main use case for these sorts of pilots, requiring tote transferring and different handbook duties on the manufacturing unit flooring. Boston Dynamics has equally been working with its mum or dad firm, Hyundai; Determine has deployed robots with BMW; and Tesla’s Optimus will ultimately get to work on the corporate’s personal EVs.
Bringing all of it again house
Like lots of its rivals, Apptronik can also be on the lookout for methods to place Apollo to work exterior of factories and warehouses. The day might arrive when these robots come house to assist with groceries, cook dinner, fold laundry, and different duties patrons may wish to offload onto an automaton. Cardenas is much more enthusiastic about age tech as an essential avenue for superior robotics. Because the inhabitants ages and extra older adults desire to stay independently, humanoids might ultimately assist.
“The holy grail for me is [age-tech],” says Cardenas. “As humans,” he says he asks himself, “where could we apply this technology that improves the human condition?”
The holy grail should wait, nevertheless.
For now, Apptronik, like most humanoid producers, is concentrated on trade. Factories and warehouses are an excellent first step, as companies have the cash and different sources required for pilots. Scaling manufacturing for these tasks will proceed to drive the worth level down, however because it stands, the programs are far too costly for the house – and even care amenities – to be a sensible route. Apollo’s goal value is under $50,000, says Cardenas. However Apptronik isn’t there but.
“We’re in the window where the economics now make sense,” says Cardenas. “And we know how to get to much more affordable systems.”
