2025: The Year of Humanoid Robots

2024, although it was not a booming period for investing in robotics startups, was one of the most impressive in terms of the attractiveness and display of the technology. Before all this, even taxis became robots. But the attraction of the robotics field reached its peak this year and ended with the unveiling of some very attractive products, including Tesla’s humanoid robot. Follow this article from Crunchbase on this matter.

In fields such as humanoid robots and artificial intelligence as the brain of robots, startups working on science-fictional applications of this technology received the largest investment of the year. These investments were mostly made in the early stages, which indicates that this cycle is just beginning.

One of the clear examples of this trend is the startup Figure; A company that has only been established for 2 years and aims to create multi-purpose humanoid robots. Founded in 2022 in Silicon Valley, the startup raised $675 million in funding in February this year to move closer to its goal of building robots that can perform dangerous and undesirable tasks.

Another example is the second largest fundraising of the year, which belongs to the startup Physical Intelligence; A company in San Francisco that was founded this year and last month was able to attract 400 million dollars in capital and raise its value to 2 billion dollars.

In total, robotics-related startups attracted about $7.2 billion in funding in 2024 at various stages, from seed stage to growth stage. This figure is slightly higher than last year’s level, but still a long way from the market’s peak in 2021, as shown in the chart below.

Multipurpose robots

One of the most visible trends in recent investments is that investors have become interested in startups that design multi-purpose robots, that is, robots that can perform more than one or two simple tasks.

In addition to startups Fig and Physical intelligenceAnother prominent example of this approach is Startup Skild AI Based in Pittsburgh. The company is developing brain models that can be used in a variety of robots and for different tasks. Skild AI In July, it managed to attract 300 million dollars in capital and increase its value to 1.5 billion dollars.

A few months ago, the startup Collaborative Robotics Based in Silicon Valley, it was able to attract $100 million in capital. The company is building what are called functional collaborative robots, or co-bots. These robots are designed to work alongside humans in industries such as manufacturing, healthcare and retail. Also, startups Bright Machines The San Francisco-based company, which focuses on building flexible robots for factories, raised $106 million in equity financing in June.

In the field of home robots, Kyle Vogtthe founder of Cruise, this year’s startup The Bot Company launched which focuses on home robots. The San Francisco-based company raised $150 million in seed funding to build a robot that can help with various household tasks.

Humanoid robots and solving the workforce problem

Robotics startups often cite current and projected labor shortages as a major motivating factor. for example, Brett Adcockthe founder of the startup Figbased his company’s original program on the premise that there are more than 10 million “dangerous or undesirable jobs” in the United States alone, and an aging population will make the challenge of filling these positions even more difficult.

One of the biggest robotics investors and employers who seems to embrace this view is Jeff Bezosthe founder of Amazon and the investment fund Bezos Expeditions is Bezos, whose company is known for its extensive use of automated technologies in warehouses, has participated in at least four major fundraisings for robotics companies this year through his investment vehicles: Fig, Physical intelligence, Skild AI and Swiss-Mile who is developing a robot with mechanical wheels and legs.

Surgical robots, drones and more

Beyond workplace robots and artificial intelligence as the brains of robots, we continued to see investment in areas that have been recognized as core areas of robotics startups for years.

One of these areas Surgical robots is This year, two large investments were allocated to companies that operate in this field: MMIthe developer of the technology of microscopic surgeries with the help of robots, and Capstan Medical which works on robotic technologies that offer a minimally invasive alternative to traditional open-heart surgery. Both companies managed to attract $110 million in capital.

Drones and autonomous delivery vehicles have also attracted significant investment in recent years, and this trend will continue in 2024. Startup Skydiowhich sells drones for commercial and military applications, raised $170 million in a round of funding last month. In the area of ​​delivery, another startup with major customers in the military sector, viz Forterrawhich provides autonomous ground vehicles, has raised $75 million in funding.

There is still no talk of capital withdrawal

In general, the flow of robotics startups and humanoid robots that have been funded this year is mostly in what can be called a spectacular and attractive stage. At this stage, the most heavily invested companies are mostly early-stage, with big ambitions, attractive business plans and little pressure to generate sustainable profits or provide a clear path to profitability.

Investors also seem to be waiting to see if the companies in their portfolio can live up to their initial promises. Although this process seems very risky, it also has the possibility of very high returns. At least this is what a startup is Fig predicted in his original plan and admits: “We face high risk and very low probability of success.”

However, Fig It emphasizes: “If we succeed, we have the ability to make a positive impact on humanity and build the world’s largest company.”