Tesla robotics development rival Apptronik announced a $350 million Series A funding round Thursday morning to scale the production of artificial intelligence-powered humanoid robots.
The funding round was co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory, and included backing from Google, CEO Jeff Cardenas said in an exclusive Squawk Box interview Thursday.
Apptronik, a Texas-based robotics developer founded in 2016, previously raised $28 million and is currently working on deploying what the company calls a “groundbreaking” humanoid robot designed for industrial work named Apollo.
Jeff Cardenas, Apptronik Apollo and Yemi A.D. at the Featured Session: Robotic Renaissance: The Dawn of Humanoid Innovation as part of SXSW 2024 Conference and Festivals held at the Hilton Austin in Austin, Texas, on March 14, 2024.
Mike Jordan | Sxsw Conference & Festivals | Getty Images
“What’s happening in robotics is robots, with the power of AI, are becoming much more versatile,” Cardenas said. “Now we’re getting these robots out into the world in a pretty big way and scaling them up and going from industry and into the home in the future.”
The new funding will allow the company to scale its robot development to potentially address applications like manufacturing and healthcare. The robots will be trained separately from humans on repetitive tasks, Cardenas said, before they begin integrating into human life.
Apptronik has partnered with NASA and NVIDIA as it works on iterations of robots that rival those of Elon Musk’s Tesla. The company has developed 15 robotic systems, including NASA’s humanoid robot Valkyrie.
“The target price is for these robots to be less than the price of a car, so we’ve been working over the years, we’re on our ninth iteration of human robot,” Cardenas said. “These robots are going to get much more affordable over time.”
The company is also working with Google DeepMind to work on developing the AI driving the robotics technology.
The Tesla Bot humanoid robot of Tesla ”Optimus” is displayed at the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China, on July 6, 2023.
Costfoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Tesla has also moved into the fast-evolving humanoid robotics industry with the Tesla Optimus robot. According to Goldman Sachs, the global market for humanoid robots could reach $38 billion by 2035.
“I think we’re right there in the race,” Cardenas said. “I think what this round represents is that our investors are really backing us and think that we have a real shot at winning this race.”
