Sector Snapshot: Robotics Startups On Fire As Venture Funding Surges To Record Numbers In 2026

Robotics startup funding hit a record high in 2025, per Crunchbase data. And that trend is continuing in 2026 so far, with funding to the sector already eclipsing 2025’s totals.

Globally, robotics startups have so far raised $18.8 billion in 2026, compared to $15 billion in the full year of 2025. The figure also handily surpasses the $14.1 billion raised in the peak venture funding year of 2021, and we still have more than six months of fundraising left.

The impressive rise in funding reflects a marked shift in perception among venture investors about the robotics sector, which was traditionally considered an expensive, asset-heavy hardware gamble. In particular, investors appear to be drawn to startups working on embodied AI, or artificial intelligence with a physical body that interacts with the real world in real time.

Noteworthy recent rounds

The surge in funding is driven by a number of robotics-focused startups raising considerable capital from investors this year. Also, interestingly, two of the five largest raises in 2026 to date have been by Austin-based companies.

Topping the list of largest deals in 2026 so far is Austin-based Saronic, a defense tech startup focused on autonomous sea vessels. In March, the 4-year-old company raised $1.75 billion in Series D funding, bringing its total funding to around $2.6 billion. Kleiner Perkins led the round, which set Saronic’s valuation at $9.25 billion — more than double its Series C level in 2025.

Earlier this month, Germany’s Neura Robotics, a developer of AI infrastructure for robots to learn, collaborate and operate across real-world environments, said it secured up to $1.4 billion in Series C funding. Tether led that raise.

In January, Skild AI, a robotics company building an “omni-bodied” brain to operate any robot for any task, announced that it had raised $1.4 billion, tripling its valuation to over $14 billion. That financing came just over seven months after Skild raised a $135 million Series B at a $4.5 billion valuation. SoftBank Group led the startup’s latest round, which included participation from NVentures, Nvidia’s venture capital arm.

On June 15, Beijing-based Shihang Intelligent, which creates water robots and intelligent unmanned equipment, raised $1 billion in a massive Series A round led by Beijing Shanghe Momentum Private Equity Fund.

And in February, AI-powered robotics company Apptronik raised $520 million in an extension of its $415 million Series A raise in February 2025, bringing the total round to over $935 million. Existing backers B Capital, Google, Mercedes-Benz and Peak6 joined new investors, including AT&T Ventures and manufacturing giant John Deere in participating in the extension.

Interestingly, Rivian spinout Mind Robotics has already raised two rounds in 2026. In March, the Palo Alto, California-based startup closed on a $500 million Series A round, co-led by Accel and Andreessen Horowitz. Then in May, it raised another $400 million in a financing led by Kleiner Perkins. The company is developing an AI-enabled industrial robotics platform focused on automating industrial and manufacturing tasks at scale.

Exits

While mergers and acquisitions have been relatively robust with several strategic buyouts, the robotics IPO landscape is a bit quieter, particularly in the U.S.

In China, however, a number of robotics companies have recently gone public. The highly anticipated public listing of Unitree Robotics, targeting a $3 billion to $7 billion valuation, was considered a milestone for the industry. In March, the company filed for an initial public offering to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and its IPO was widely expected to spur other startups in the space to pursue their own public-market debuts.

Robotphoenix, a startup based in China’s Shandong province that makes lightweight industrial robots, in May listed on the HKEX, raising about $86 million. And it did not disappoint. Robotphoenix closed its first full day of trading at HK$53.75 ($6.86 U.S.), up nearly 80%, though shares have dipped to the HK$37 range more recently.

On the M&A front, a number of Big Tech and automotive giants have been aggressively acquiring embodied AI and humanoid talent to anchor their physical automation strategies.

In February, AI-powered supply chain provider Symbotic acquired Fox Robotics, an Austin-based maker of autonomous forklifts and lift trucks.

Skild AI said in April that it had picked up the robotics arm of Zebra Technologies in an effort to deploy its technology to warehouses.

And in May, tech giant Meta entered the humanoid robotics field directly by acquiring San Diego-based Assured Robot Intelligence. The team was absorbed into Meta’s Superintelligence Labs unit to accelerate training of its foundational physical AI model.

Related Crunchbase queries:

• Global Robotics Venture Funding In 2026
• Largest Robotics-Related Rounds Of 2026
• Global Physical AI Venture Funding In 2026

Related reading:

• 5 Startup Sectors Seeing Big Funding Growth
• The Year Of Humanoid Robots
• Embodied AI Fuels Record Robotics Funding In China As IPO Momentum Builds
• Amid Record Robotics Funding, Apptronik Raises $520M Series A Extension To Boost Production Of Humanoid Robot Apollo
• Robotics Startup Skild AI Lands $1.4B, Tripling Valuation To $14B In Just 7 Months

Illustration: Dom Guzman