Perhaps the robots will take over — but not just any robots.

Robot brain developer Physical Intelligence’s massive $400 million raise at a $2 billion valuation last week highlighted several trends in robotic startup investment. For one, investors seem to be backing startups developing versatile robots capable of doing more than just a simple task or two. And many of the startups getting big funding share a common investor: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Overall, the robotics sector has had a good venture funding year. Robotics startups have raised $6.4 billion so far in 2024 — a pace that would put funding at nearly $7.5 billion for the entire year and ahead of the $6.9 billion raised in 2023, according to Crunchbase data.

Those numbers pale in comparison to the $14.7 billion raised in 2021 but nonetheless show a pretty robust sector that is still attracting investors and their cash.

Money for more flexible robots

However, one notable difference between this year’s numbers and last is the number of rounds. There have been only 473 rounds raised this year, a sharp downturn from the 671 last year.

One of the things that helped boost the dollar total has been the size of the two largest rounds this year: the $400 million for Physical Intelligence and $675 million for Figure early in the year. Both of those rounds were larger than last year’s top robotics round, a $330 million Series F for San Francisco-based drone developer Zipline.

Physical Intelligence plans to use its latest cash injection to improve how robots operate and create foundational software that could be used on a variety of robot models. Meanwhile, Sunnyvale, California-based Figure, which is developing AI-enhanced robots that it hopes will be able to perform dangerous jobs and alleviate labor shortages, raised a $675 million round at a pre-money valuation of roughly $2 billion in February.

Those rounds also seem to highlight a common trend in the startup robotics scene right now — using AI to create robots that can do more than just pack up boxes in a warehouse.

That’s a far cry from a robotics arm in a warehouse taking things off a shelf, and those two startups are not the only ones raising big rounds to try to expand the occupational skills of robots.

In July, Pittsburgh-based Skild AI — also developing brain models that can be used in a variety of robots and for different tasks — raised a $300 million Series A. The funding valued the company at $1.5 billion.

In April, Santa Clara, California-based Collaborative Robotics locked up a $100 million Series B. The startup creates what it calls “practical collaborative robots” — or “cobots,” for short — to work alongside humans in sectors like manufacturing, healthcare, retail and more.

A big-named investor

Using AI to create robots and/or software brains to allow our mechanical friends to partake in a variety of jobs isn’t the only thing some of these large rounds have in common.

Some also share a common investor who knows all too well what robots can do in a warehouse.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — either individually or through his Bezos Expeditions investment firm — has been investing heavily in these trends.Bezos co-led the round for Physical Intelligence and Bezos Expeditions co-led the round for Skild AI and participated in Figure’s round.

In addition, Bezos was an investor in Vicarious — an AI startup that uses the computational principles of the brain to develop general intelligence for robots — before it was acquired by Intrinsic in 2022.

Per Crunchbase data, Bezos Expeditions also has invested in Switzerland-based artificial intelligence-driven wheeled-legged robot Swiss-Mile and Boston-based industrial robot maker Rethink Robotics.

It seems safe to assume that list will grow.

Related Crunchbase Pro list:

• Robotics Funding
• Bezos Expeditions’ Robotics Investments

Related reading:

• Collaborative Robotics Locks Up $100M, Latest Robot Startup To Raise Big
• Robotics Startups On The Rise In 2024
• Robot Brain Startup Physical Intelligence Raises $400M At $2B Valuation

Illustration: Dom Guzman