Apptronik Closes $935M Series A Round
Bay Area robotics startup Apptronik has closed a $935 million Series A funding round, one of the largest early-stage investments in robotics history. The funding reflects a broader trend noted by CB Insights, which cites robotics as a major driver for AI investment. The influx of capital is expected to address the gap between AI's prevalence in consumption and its relative scarcity in production.
- The $935 million total was reached through a $520 million Series A-X extension that followed an initial $415 million Series A round in 2025; the extension was priced at a 3x multiple of the original valuation. - New strategic investors in this round include AT&T Ventures, John Deere, and the Qatar Investment Authority, who join existing backers such as Google, B Capital, and Mercedes-Benz. - The company was founded in 2016 as a spin-out from the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, with a founding team that gained experience working on NASA's Valkyrie humanoid robot. - Apptronik's flagship robot, Apollo, stands 5'8" tall, weighs 160 pounds, and can lift 55 pounds. It features hot-swappable batteries enabling it to operate for up to 22 hours per day. - The company has a strategic partnership with Google DeepMind to power its robots with Gemini AI models. - Pilot programs for Apollo are already underway with major partners, including Mercedes-Benz for automotive manufacturing tasks and GXO Logistics for warehouse automation. - The global humanoid robot market, where Apptronik competes with players like Figure AI, Agility Robotics, and Tesla, is projected to grow from $7.8 billion in 2025 to over $181 billion by 2035. - A portion of the new funding will be used to accelerate the development of a new robot model, which the company plans to debut in 2026.
