UK Robot Maker Humanoid Valued at $1.35 billion

Europe has its first humanoid robotics unicorn after a U.K. startup closed a $152 million Series A funding round at a $1.35 billion valuation.The London-based vendor, Humanoid, reached the milestone two years after its founding, and has now attracted $270 million in investment to date.Its fundraising success is not surprising given the vendor’s upward trajectory in recent months.In April, Siemens revealed that it was using Humanoid’s core product, HMND 01 -- which is being developed both as a bipedal bot and with wheels -- in a trial picking and placing containers at a Siemens factory in Germany.Shortly after, Humanoid agreed to a deal to supply thousands of humanoid robots to manufacturing plants owned by motion tech vendor Schaeffler -- the largest deal yet for the deployment of humanoid bots.The investment reflects these successes and confidence in Humanoid’s potential. It also represents growth in the European tech ecosystem, including the robotics sector, which until now has been led by Chinese and U.S. companies.Related:Google Cloud, Nvidia Collaborate With German Startup for AI RobotsArtem Sokolov, founder and CEO, said in a release that Humanoid’s ability to develop and deploy at speed was key to its dramatic rise.“This funding gives us the resources to move even faster and to turn humanoid robots from breakthrough technology into everyday industrial tools,” he said in a statement.Humanoid detailed a list of its priorities for the new funding.These include the development and launch of its next-generation humanoid platform; long-term commercial deployments at customer plants, beginning with the rollout of beta version bots by the end of the year; and starting mass production of wheel-based humanoid bots.The vendor is also planning to further develop its AI systems and software, -- including its proprietary AI brain KinetIQ -- which enables robots to understand, reason, and execute complex physical tasks, as it seeks to develop a general-purpose bot for industrial applications.The funding round was led by Wyoming venture capital firm Prime Movers Lab, with participation from Schaeffler, Bosch, Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital, and Aglaé Ventures.About the AuthorContributing WriterGraham Hope has worked in automotive journalism in the U.K. for 26 years, including spells as editor of leading consumer news website and weekly Auto Express and respected buying guide CarBuyer.