Apptronik, which makes humanoid robots, increases $ 350 million while the category heats up

Apptronik, a spin-out from the University of Texas which quietly built humanoid robots before it became if in fashion, announced Thursday a series of funding of $ 350 million. B Capital and Capital Factory co-directed La Ronde, which also presented the participation of Google, including the DeepMind division is a partnership With Apptronik to deliver the AI ​​embodied for bipedal robots.

“What 2025 is about to for Apptronik and the humanoid industry really shows useful work in these applications with these first adopters and initial customers,” CEO Jeff Cardenas told Techcrunch. “And then real marketing and scaling occur in 2026 and beyond. This is why this increase is designed. »»

The startup based in Austin had collected relatively modest dollars combined before this round. Cardenas says that the previous objective was to generate more income than money collected – a goal he says that the eight -year -old startup achieved during this period. That income came through pilot transactions with Mercedes and Gxo Logistics – and selling robots. For the moment, however, the objective of generating more income than fundraising will have to go over time for a while.

Apptronik’s humanoid work dates back to 2013, three years before its foundation. It was then that the members of the University of Austin in Texas in Texas Human Centerd Robotics Lab participated in the NASA-DARPA robotics challengean effort centered on a humanoid robot called Valkyrie. Since then, the space agency has maintained a partnership with Apptronik because the company has prepared its own generation of humanoids, including its current humanoid, Apollo.

Cardenas indicates this decade and more humanoid experience as a main differentiator between Apptronik and competitors like Figure, 1x and Tesla. Boston Dynamics and Agility Robotics also have long stories, but Apptronik is a seasoned veteran in the category compared to a large part of the competition.

Google Deepmind

This story can explain why the Deepmind AI team of Google worked with Apptronik to create models of robots behavior. Their “strategic partnership” is similar to others in industry. Last week, Boston Dynamics announced a link with robotics and the AI ​​Institute. Which followed a similar agreement between The spot manufacturer and the Toyota Research Institute This aims to improve the way robots learn.

All are indicators of a much greater trend, including multiple transactions of Openai in space. The chatpt manufacturer has invested in 1x and the figure. Last August, Figure announced that he would more like to take advantage of the OpenAi models to develop natural speech conversations for his own robot 02, although last week, the outfit announcement new plans; In the future, it will move all its internal AI development.

“We found that to resolve a large -scale embodied AI in the real world, you must integrate vertically Robot IA,” said the CEO of figure, Brett Adcock, in Techcrunch last week. “We cannot subcontract AI for the same reason that we cannot outsource our equipment.”

Apptronik can ultimately make the same choice, but for the moment, a Google Deepmind partnership makes much more sense for the startup than the additional financing required to build Humanoid Ai -made internal models. “We think that at the moment, Google is at the top of the game and building some of the best models in the world,” said Cardenas.

Put robots at work

Scale and production are the magic words for a round of Apptronik. Apptronik’s current workforce is just north of 170 people, and it provides for an increase of 50% compared to next year.

However, Cardenas is pragmatic on time in a category that can be fast Overpromise and sub-discipline. Cardenas tells Techcrunch that Apptronik has not yet exceeded the pilot scene with any of its partnerships. For all the excitement around humanoids, it is always essential that companies adopt a measured approach in the category, solving things such as security problems and reliability before setting technology to scale.

In the meantime, the company has a handful of current pilots, including Mercedes, which makes a natural choice. Car manufacturing has been the main use case for these types of pilots, requiring a move and other manual tasks on the factory floor. Boston Dynamics also worked with his parent company, Hyundai; The figure has deployed robots with BMW; And Optimus de Tesla will eventually work on the company’s own electric vehicles.

Bring everything back to home

Like many of his rivals, Apptronik also seeks means of placing Apollo to work outside factories and warehouses. The day could happen when these robots go home to help with the grocery store, cooking, folding the laundry and other tasks that buyers may want to unload on an automaton. Cardenas is even more enthusiastic about age technology as an important avenue for advanced robotics. Like the population aging And more older adults prefer to live independently, humanoids could possibly help.

“The Holy Grail for me is [age-tech]Said Cardenas. “As human beings,” he says, he wonders, “where could we apply this technology that improves the human condition?”

The Holy Grail will however have to wait.

For the moment, Apptronik, like most humanoid manufacturers, focuses on industry. Factory and warehouses are a good first step, as companies have money and other resources necessary for drivers. The scaling of the manufacture of these projects will continue to lower the price, but as it is, the systems are far too expensive for the house – or even the care establishments – to be a practical route. Apollo’s target price is less than $ 50,000, explains Cardenas. But Apptronik is not yet there.

“We are in the window where the economy now makes sense,” explains Cardenas. “And we know how to arrive at much more affordable systems.”