A Record Round

Startup Figure AI closed a Series C funding round of $520 million at a company valuation of $4.8 billion. Investors include Microsoft, NVIDIA, Amazon, Intel, and Jeff Bezos’ fund.

This is one of the largest rounds in the history of robotics startups and a sign that the humanoid robotics industry is transitioning from the R&D phase to commercialization.

What Figure AI Does

Figure AI develops the humanoid robot Figure 02, designed for work in warehouses, factories, and logistics centers. Key features:

  • AI-powered control based on vision-language models
  • Autonomous navigation in unstructured environments
  • Object manipulation with adaptive gripping
  • Learning through demonstration β€” an operator shows an action, the robot replicates it

Figure 02 is already being tested in BMW warehouses in South Carolina, performing sorting and component handling tasks.

Market Competition

Figure AI is not alone in the humanoid robot race:

Key Competitors

Company Robot Status Valuation
Tesla Optimus Gen 3 Pilot production Part of Tesla
Figure AI Figure 02 Customer testing $4.8B
Apptronik Apollo Commercial deliveries $2.1B
1X Technologies NEO Development $1.3B
Agility Robotics Digit Commercial deliveries $800M

Apptronik: The Main Rival

Apptronik from Austin, Texas is often called Figure AI’s main competitor. Their robot Apollo:

  • Is already being delivered to commercial clients
  • Operates in Mercedes-Benz warehouses
  • Can lift up to 25 kg
  • Costs approximately $50,000 per unit

Where the Money Will Go

Figure AI plans to allocate the $520 million toward:

  • Scaling production β€” transitioning from individual prototypes to series manufacturing
  • R&D β€” improving the AI control system
  • Team expansion β€” hiring 200+ engineers
  • Factory construction β€” building their own manufacturing facility in California

Investment Context

Humanoid robots are one of the hottest sectors for venture capital in 2026:

  • Total investment in the sector for 2025-2026: over $5 billion
  • Projected market by 2035: $154 billion (Goldman Sachs)
  • Number of startups in the sector: 60+ worldwide

For public market investors, shares of component suppliers are of interest:

  • NVIDIA β€” chips for robotic AI control
  • Harmonic Drive β€” precision gearboxes
  • Cognex β€” machine vision systems

The humanoid robotics market is in a phase analogous to the electric vehicle market in 2015-2016: the technology already works, but mass adoption is still ahead.