The US tech giant has backed a German company in its latest round of funding to develop humanoid robot technology.
Neura Robotics’ Series C funding worth up to $1.4 billion included participation from Tether, Qualcomm, Amazon, and Nvidia, as well as European industrial companies Bosch and Schaeffler and the European Investment Bank.
The company is valued at about $7 billion, said a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the information. The company declined to comment on the valuation.
“The future of AI is not just on the screen,” David Reger, founder and CEO of Neura Robotics, said in a statement. “It moves, interacts, learns, and works with us in the real world.”
The full funding is conditional on Neura achieving certain milestones based on the company’s performance, the person added. Neura declined to comment on the milestone.
Investors have been flocking to robotics startups in recent days, as attention has focused on bringing AI to physical systems that can interact in real-world environments.
According to Dealroom, robotics companies are on track to raise $55.8 billion by 2026, a record number that is nearly double the previous record raised last year.
Most of it has been sourced by companies in the United States and China, but new robotics companies are also being developed in Europe. These include Germany-based SoftBank-backed Agile Robots and UK-based Humanoids.
“Many believed that globally relevant AI infrastructure companies could only emerge from Silicon Valley,” Reger said.
“We believe that with enough vision, engineering talent, and speed of execution, the next generation of AI leaders can emerge anywhere in the world,” he added.
“With this latest funding, Neura firmly positions itself among the global leaders in the robotics race, alongside top companies in the U.S. and China.”
