This Week's Good Reads

• IEEE Spectrum - Roadrunner Bipedal Bot Breaks the Mold — The Robotics and AI Institute unveiled Roadrunner, a 15 kg bipedal wheeled robot with multimodal locomotion that seamlessly switches between side-by-side and in-line wheel modes as well as stepping configurations. Its entirely symmetric legs allow knees to point forward or backward for obstacle avoidance, and a single control policy handles both driving modes — including standing up from the ground and balancing on one wheel, all deployed zero-shot on hardware. IEEE Spectrum
• Bloomberg - Humanoid Robots Are Overkill for Most Factory Assembly Lines — Despite humanoid robot investments surging from $700M in 2018 to $4.3B last year and BofA projecting 10M annual shipments by 2035, industrial leaders at ABB and Rockwell Automation argue that factory tasks rarely require human-level dexterity. ABB's Marc Segura notes no one will "spend money to put a head on so it looks like a human," and that simpler 4-to-6-axis robots remain faster, more reliable, and more cost-effective for precision manufacturing — with autonomous mobile robots already seeing widespread adoption instead. Bloomberg
• TechCrunch - Agile Robots Partners with Google DeepMind — Munich-based Agile Robots, which has installed over 20,000 robotics solutions worldwide and raised more than $270M from SoftBank Vision Fund and Xiaomi, entered a strategic research partnership with Google DeepMind to integrate Gemini Robotics foundation models into its bots. The robots will collect data to improve Gemini AI models while being tested and fine-tuned for industrial use cases across electronics manufacturing, automotive, data centers, and logistics — following similar partnerships between Google DeepMind and Boston Dynamics earlier this year. TechCrunch

Robotics and AI Companies Funding

Pre-seed / Seed

• deeplify – €2M, Pre-seed round led by D11Z Ventures with Vanagon Ventures and EWOR (PitchBook). AI-native platform connecting industrial inspection pipelines from sensor inputs through defect identification to final reporting, reducing inspection time by up to 70%.
• Nature Robots – €4M, Seed round from Climentum Capital, Bayern Kapital, and Planetary Impact Ventures (PitchBook). Autonomous machinery software spin-off from German Research Centre for AI, building modular autonomy platforms for agricultural equipment manufacturers.
• ARO Network – $5M, Strategic round co-led by NoLimit Holdings and undisclosed Asian data center operator (PitchBook | Dealroom). Decentralized network deploying AI agents in users' homes, transforming idle internet and local devices into secure infrastructure with 1.18M+ active nodes.
• Eunice – $8M, Seed and Pre-seed round led by Moonfire Ventures and Speedinvest with Openspace Ventures. AI-powered due diligence infrastructure for alternative assets, working with Coinbase, Crypto.com, Copper, and Zodia Custody.
• VICTUS Technologies – Undisclosed, Seed round led by Bow Capital with Techstars, Marque Ventures, 10vc, and Intbox Ventures (Crunchbase). Autonomy software for drones, robots, and crewed/uncrewed systems operating in GPS-denied environments.
• Conntour – $7M, Seed round led by General Catalyst and Y Combinator (PitchBook). AI search engine for security video systems using computer vision and NLP for plain English queries.
• Galtea – €3.2M, Seed round from 42CAP (PitchBook). AI testing platform in Barcelona addressing systematic testing and validation of AI systems.
• Zalos – $3.6M, Seed round from undisclosed investors (PitchBook). Computer agents for CFOs handling financial analysis, reporting, and planning workflows.
• Moda – $7.5M, Seed round from undisclosed investors (PitchBook). AI design agent platform automating design tasks across marketing, product, and communications workflows.
• Instead – Strategic investment (amount undisclosed) from Skylark Partners (PitchBook | Dealroom). AI tax preparation platform and first new tax platform in decades to receive IRS approval for e-filing across all major entity types, automating over 90% of preparation work.

Series A

• Deccan AI – $25M, Series A round led by A91 Partners with Susquehanna International Group and Prosus Ventures (PitchBook). Post-training data layer for frontier AI labs, providing expert data generation, model evaluation, and RL environments built by 1M+ contributor network concentrated in India; customers include Google DeepMind and Snowflake.
• Origin – $30M, Series A+ round led by Notion Capital with Felix Capital, Acadian Ventures, and HSBC Innovation Banking UK (PitchBook | Dealroom). AI-powered global employee benefits intelligence platform with Cuido engine that consolidates fragmented data across countries and languages.
• Thesis Care – $45M, Series A round led by Oak HC/FT with CRV and Black Opal Ventures, bringing total to $60M (Crunchbase). AI-powered care teams combining autonomous agents with human clinicians for complex clinical workflows, working with U.S. Heart & Vascular, Essen Health Care, and Springfield Clinic.
• Draco Evolution – $8M, Series A round from angel investor group (PitchBook). AI-powered retail investing app Dravo, which delivered 33.67% returns in 2025, connecting to existing brokerage accounts with dynamic portfolio adjustments based on 1,000+ market signals.
• Normal Computing – $50M, Strategic round led by Samsung Catalyst Fund bringing total past $85M (PitchBook). AI for chip design (Normal EDA) and thermodynamic computing architecture (Carnot program) targeting 1000x energy efficiency gains; working with more than half of top ten semiconductor companies.
• Starcloud – $170M, Series A round led by Benchmark and EQT Ventures at $1.1B valuation, becoming fastest YC startup to reach unicorn status in 17 months (Crunchbase). Building data centers in orbit with continuous solar energy and natural cooling; already launched first satellite with Nvidia H100 GPU and trained AI model in space.
• EPIC Microsystems – $21M, Series A round led by Seligman Ventures with Intel Capital, AICONIC Ventures, Cambium Capital, A&E Investments, Assam Ventures, and Nepenthe Capital (PitchBook | Dealroom). Hybrid switched-capacitor power delivery architecture for AI data centers replacing bulky inductors with capacitors.
• Blossom Health – $20M, Series A round led by Greycroft and TQ Ventures (PitchBook). AI-powered psychiatry platform extending clinical capacity through automated intake, intelligent scheduling, and care coordination.
• Notch – $30M, Series A round led by Headline with Lightspeed, Jibe Ventures, Illuminate Financial, and Phoenix Financial, bringing total to $45M (PitchBook). AI operating system for insurance and regulated industries handling broker interactions, document data extraction, and claims routing.
• Kandou AI – $225M, Series A round led by Maverick Silicon with SoftBank Group, Synopsys, Cadence Design Systems, and Alchip Technologies (PitchBook). AI connectivity and memory bottleneck solutions using advanced interconnect technologies; 20M+ silicon units already shipped.

Series B

• Sift – $42M, Series B round led by StepStone Group with GV, Riot Ventures, Fika Ventures, and CIV, bringing total to $67M. Infrastructure layer enabling AI to operate complex physical machines including rockets, satellites, defense systems, and autonomous vehicles; founded by former SpaceX engineers.
• Neon – $25M, Combined equity and credit round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with Upper90 and Upfront Ventures (PitchBook). Consumer data monetization platform paying users to record conversations, anonymizing data, and selling to AI companies for training; 400,000+ hours licensed to five AI labs.
• Mojo Vision – $17.5M, Extension round from Future Ventures (PitchBook). Micro-LED optical interconnect platform for AI data centers replacing laser-based systems; working with Marvell Technology.
• Miraterra Soil – $16M, Financing round led by At One Ventures with Farm Credit Canada, S2G Investments, Sitka Foundation, and iSelect. AI-powered soil intelligence platform integrating biological, chemical, and physical soil data using genomics and spectroscopy.

Series C and beyond

• Adonis – $40M, Series C round led by Quadrille Capital with General Catalyst and Bling Capital, bringing total past $95M (Crunchbase | PitchBook | Dealroom). AI platform for healthcare providers to fight payer denials, reporting 4x revenue growth in 2025 with 130%+ net retention; used by Mount Sinai.
• Rebellions – $400M, Pre-IPO round led by Mirae Asset Financial Group and Korea National Growth Fund at $2.34B valuation, bringing total to $850M (Crunchbase | PitchBook | Tracxn). South Korean AI inference chip maker shipping RebelRack inference compute units and RebelPOD cluster systems for large-scale AI deployment.
• ScaleOps – $130M, Series C round led by Insight Partners with Lightspeed, NFX, Glilot Capital, and Picture Capital at $800M valuation, bringing total to ~$210M (Crunchbase | PitchBook | Dealroom). Kubernetes resource optimization platform autonomously reallocating GPU resources for AI workloads; customers include Adobe, DocuSign, Salesforce, and Wiz.
• Xona Space Systems – $170M, Series C round led by Mohari Ventures Natural Capital with Craft Ventures, ICONIQ, Woven Capital, NGP Capital, Samsung Next, and Hexagon (PitchBook | Dealroom). Building next-generation GPS alternative with Pulsar constellation flying 20x closer to Earth, delivering signals 100x stronger for autonomous vehicles and precision agriculture.
• Tevel – $18M, Series C round led by Sound Media Ventures with Maverick Ventures Israel, Kubota Corporation, AgFunder, and OurCrowd (PitchBook). Flying Autonomous Robots for commercial fruit harvesting using AI, computer vision, and machine learning; working with Unifrutti Group and HMC Farms.
• Rocketlane – $60M, Series C round led by Insight Partners, bringing total to $105M (PitchBook | Dealroom). Nitro platform deploying AI agents for professional services teams handling migrations, configurations, documentation, and testing; serves 750+ customers including 17 Forbes Cloud 100 companies.
• Cents – $140M, Series C round led by Ellington Partners with Halogen Ventures, KKR, and Camber Creek (PitchBook). Software and hardware platform for laundry operations including payments, business management, and IoT-enabled machines.
• Zhixing Robotics – 100M yuan, Series B+ and B++ rounds led by Shandong Weida with Guoxing Investment, Wuhu Science and Technology Innovation, and Shanghai Angel Club. Dexterous hands and embodied robot systems for industrial AI deployments; shipped thousands of units in 2025, core hardware supplier for Tencent and Huawei data collection programs.
• Mistral AI – >€750M, Debt financing from seven-bank consortium including BNP Paribas CIB, Crédit Agricole CIB, HSBC, and MUFG (PitchBook | Dealroom). French AI company building compute layer with 13,800 Nvidia chips for new Paris-area data center; targeting 200MW capacity across Europe by end of 2027.

Growth / Strategic / Other

• Xanadu – $302M, SPAC gross proceeds from business combination with Crane Harbor Acquisition Corp., listing on Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange (ticker: XNDU). First pure-play photonic quantum computing company to go public; partnerships with Lockheed Martin, AMD, Rolls-Royce, Volkswagen, and Toyota Research Institute.
• Cambridge Mobile Telematics – $350M, Strategic investment led by TPG and Allianz X with State Farm and The Rise Fund, bringing total past $850M (PitchBook). AI models turning phones, IoT devices, dashcams, and connected vehicles into real-time road risk infrastructure; DriveWell platform supports 55M+ drivers across 25 countries.
• Harvey – $200M, Growth round co-led by GIC and Sequoia Capital at $11B valuation, bringing total past $1B (Crunchbase | PitchBook). AI agents for law firms and in-house legal teams across M&A, due diligence, and contract drafting; 25,000+ custom agents operating across 1,300+ organizations.
• Shield AI – $1.5B, Series G round co-led by Advent International and JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group with $500M preferred equity from Blackstone-managed funds at $12.7B valuation, bringing total to $2B (Crunchbase | PitchBook). Hivemind autonomous aviation software flying in denied environments across 26 vehicle classes from F-16s to drone boats.
• EMed Health – $200M, Growth round led by Espresso Capital with Balderton Capital and Crossbeam Venture Partners at $2B valuation (PitchBook). Digital healthcare infrastructure platform for emerging markets connecting patients, providers, and payers using AI to route care and coordinate payments.
• Isara AI – $94M, Strategic round with OpenAI as backer (PitchBook). Enterprise AI agents handling back-office workflows integrating with existing enterprise software.
• Granola – $125M, Growth round led by Sequoia Capital with First Round Capital and Spark Capital at $1.5B valuation (PitchBook). Meeting notetaker expanding to full enterprise AI application with AI agents handling scheduling, follow-ups, and workflow automation.
• Steno – $49M, Growth round led by Left Lane Capital with Clio Ventures (PitchBook). AI infrastructure for legal industry focusing on court reporting and deposition services with transcription and document management.
• Scalvy – $13.9M, Strategic round led by Evok Innovations and National Grid Partners (PitchBook). Distributed power delivery systems for AI data centers coordinating energy resources, storage, and renewable generation.
• Doss – $55M, Growth round led by General Catalyst and Y Combinator (PitchBook). AI inventory management platform optimizing inventory levels and automating replenishment decisions, integrating with existing ERP systems.
• Mirage – $75M, Growth round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners (PitchBook). AI video editing app Captions automating captioning, cutting, and effects for creators.
• Stateful Robotics – $48M, Growth round from undisclosed investors (PitchBook). Long-term robot intelligence systems enabling robots to learn and adapt over extended periods.
• Lucid Bots – $20M, Growth round led by General Catalyst (PitchBook). Window-washing drones using computer vision and autonomous navigation for building exterior cleaning.
• Dexory – £8.5M, Series C extension from British Business Bank led by Eurazeo (PitchBook). Autonomous warehouse robots with DexoryView AI layer drawing from 1B+ warehouse location scans; customers include GXO, Maersk, DHL, and Samsung.

Robotics and AI News

• TechCrunch - Physical Intelligence is reportedly in talks to raise $1 billion, again — The two-year-old San Francisco robotics startup is in discussions to raise about $1 billion at a valuation exceeding $11 billion, effectively doubling its $5.6 billion valuation from just four months ago. Founders Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Thrive Capital, and Lux Capital are expected to participate. Co-founder Sergey Levine describes the company's ambition as "ChatGPT, but for robots," working to build general-purpose AI models that can power robots to perform tasks from folding laundry to peeling vegetables. TechCrunch
• TechCrunch - Mistral releases a new open source model for speech generation — French AI company Mistral launched Voxtral TTS, an open source text-to-speech model supporting nine languages including English, French, German, Spanish, and Arabic. The model can run on edge devices like smartphones and smartwatches, features 90ms time-to-first-audio, and can adapt custom voices with less than five seconds of sample audio. This puts Mistral in direct competition with ElevenLabs, Deepgram, and OpenAI in the voice AI space. TechCrunch
• TechCrunch - A former Thiel fellow's startup just launched a drone it says can replace police helicopters — Brinc, founded by Thiel fellow Blake Resnick, launched Guardian, a 911 response drone capable of flying at 60 mph for 62 minutes with thermal imaging and 4K cameras. The drone features embedded Starlink connectivity for unlimited range and automated battery swapping. Resnick estimates a $6-8 billion market opportunity as the company aims to become the "DJI of the West" amid recent U.S. bans on foreign-made drones. TechCrunch
• AP News - Amazon buys Fauna Robotics, maker of the Sprout humanoid robot — Amazon has acquired Fauna Robotics, the maker of Sprout, a humanoid robot designed for various applications. This acquisition signals Amazon's continued investment in robotics and automation technologies. AP News

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