Robotics funding and physical‑AI pushes
Investment and product bets are stacking up for industrial robotics and physical AI — Kewazo raised $35M to expand heavy‑industry deployments, XGRIDS showcased Real2Sim at NVIDIA GTC to train robots in precise real‑world environments, and Nvidia + Uber unveiled an end‑to‑end robotaxi stack. ( roboticsandautomationnews.com prnewswire.com digitimes.com )
Schooner Capital led Kewazo’s latest financing round, with new strategic backers including Chevron Technology Ventures, Asahi Kasei, Benson Capital, Mana Ventures, Gaingels and Atlas Ventures joining the cap table. (markets.financialcontent.com) Kewazo’s LIFTBOT platform is deployed at more than 20 industrial sites across North America and Europe, where it’s being used to automate lifting and maintenance tasks during capital projects. (therobotreport.com) XGRIDS said Real2Sim now integrates with NVIDIA Omniverse NuRec to enable OpenUSD-based rendering for spatially accurate simulation of real-world environments. (finance.yahoo.com) The company presented Real2Sim during NVIDIA GTC (March 16–19, 2026, San Jose) across a Startup Pitch stage and a joint robotics demonstration with Amazon Web Services. (dropthespotlight.com) Uber and NVIDIA committed to begin NVIDIA-driven robotaxi operations in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the first half of 2027 and to scale a global fleet across 28 cities by 2028. (investor.uber.com) NVIDIA said the rollout will use its DRIVE AGX Hyperion 10 hardware and NVIDIA DRIVE AV software built for Level‑4 autonomy, and the program has added automaker partners such as BYD, Hyundai, Nissan and Geely as deployment partners across multiple continents. (nvidianews.nvidia.com)
