London-based robotics startup Humanoid has raised $152 million in a Series A round at a $1.35 billion post-money valuation, according to the company, making it Europe’s first pure-play humanoid robot unicorn.
Prime Movers Lab led the round, with Schaeffler, Bosch, Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital, and Aglaé Ventures also participating, Humanoid said in a statement. The raise brings the company’s total funding to $270 million.
From idea to unicorn in two years
Humanoid was founded in 2024 by chief executive Artem Sokolov and has grown to more than 250 engineers and researchers, with offices in London, Boston, Vancouver, and San Diego. “In just two years, we’ve gone from idea to Europe’s first pure-play humanoid robotics unicorn,” Sokolov said in the announcement.
The company builds wheeled industrial robots powered by KinetIQ, its proprietary AI software stack for perception, planning, and control. Humanoid says it has completed nine industrial deployments with Fortune 500 companies and holds pre-orders for 34,000 robots worth a combined $2.4 billion.
A bet on physical AI
The round adds to a wave of investment in robotics firms chasing physical AI — pairing large models with hardware that can act in warehouses and factories — as manufacturers face persistent labor shortages. German auto-parts maker Schaeffler signed what Humanoid calls the industry’s largest publicly announced commercial deployment agreement for the robots, with Nvidia, SAP, and Siemens also named as partners.
Humanoid said the new capital will fund development of its next-generation robot platform, commercial deployments starting in the fourth quarter of 2026, and the start of mass manufacturing for its wheeled robots.
The raise follows a string of large robotics rounds this year, including Toyota-backed Walden Robotics’ $300 million raise, as investors bet that industrial robotics is nearing commercial scale. For a primer on the category, see what a humanoid robot actually is and what today’s models can do.