Foundation Robotics
About
About Foundation Robotics
Phantom combines humanoid manipulation with a body designed for industrial production work. Foundation develops the actuators, mechanical systems, sensing and tactile hardware alongside Cortex, the AI layer responsible for perception, learning and autonomous behaviour.
The company began customer pilots with a wheeled Phantom before moving to legged versions and production-cell work. Its internal timeline records robots operating five-day continuous factory schedules by late 2025, with the Mk2 platform and larger-scale deployment forming the next manufacturing phase.
Articles
Products
Supply
Supply chain relationships
Funding
- 2025-08-19 - Series A - $187M - $187M Series A values Foundation Robotics at $1.32B
Foundation Robotics completed a Series A financing round supporting development and commercialization of its humanoid robotics platform. - source: forgeglobal.com
- 2024-08-23 - pre-seed - $11M - Foundation Robotics closed an $11 million round led by Tribe Capital
Foundation Robotics raised $11 million in pre-seed financing led by Tribe Capital. - source: axios.com
Investors
- Tribe Capital - Lead - VC - 1 funding event - first seen 2024-08-23
Team
- Sankaet Pathak - Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Timeline
Events
- 2026-07-23 - Partnership - Foundation and AMD partner on Phantom MK-2 humanoid compute
Foundation plans to use AMD Ryzen AI Embedded X100 Series processors in the second generation of its Phantom humanoid. The companies are co-developing an embedded compute architecture for autonomous industrial and defense applications.
Source - 2025-12-17 - Market Signal - Foundation targets 50,000 Phantom robots by end of 2027
Intermediate company targets were 40 robots in 2025 and 10,000 in 2026. Foundation proposed leasing robots for around $100,000 per year rather than selling them outright.
Source - 2025-12-16 - Demonstration - Foundation co-founder Mike LeBlanc partners with military for Phantom humanoid operations
Collaborates with military branches for operational testing of Phantom humanoids. Explores breaching capabilities with Marine Corps, indicating tactical applications in combat scenarios. Signals potential for large-scale deployment, targeting 50,000 units by 2027.
Source - 2025-11-19 - Demonstration - Foundation demonstrates Phantom MK1 at Newsweek headquarters
Technicians rebuilt the robot over two days after its road journey from San Francisco. Phantom stood unassisted briefly before collapsing; it also interacted with employees at the front desk.
Source - 2025-08-19 - Funding - $187M Series A values Foundation Robotics at $1.32B
The Series A provided $187 million of capital. The financing established a $1.32 billion post-money valuation. Capital supports development and commercialisation of Foundation Robotics' humanoid platform.
Source - 2024-08-23 - Funding - Foundation Robotics closed an $11 million round led by Tribe Capital
The transaction was a pre-seed financing. Foundation develops humanoid robots for complex labour environments. No completed-round valuation accompanied the $11 million financing.
Source
Notes
Profile notes
- Foundation's reported $24 million Pentagon contract was not a standalone award to Foundation
reviewed 2026-07-26 - In 2026, several outlets described Foundation Future Industries as having received approximately $18-24 million in US military contracts, including a report presenting the figure as a $24 million Pentagon contract for its Phantom humanoid. When WIRED requested the underlying awards, Foundation identified two contracts inherited through its acquisition of Boardwalk Robotics and three contracts that it said came through the separate Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. WIRED reported that Foundation did not appear to have independently secured new government funding.
Source - Foundation's early fundraising materials overstated its relationship with General Motors
reviewed 2026-07-26 - Foundation's 2024 fundraising materials presented General Motors as a prospective investor and first customer, referred to a targeted $300 million purchase order and claimed access to GM factories for robot-training data. GM said it had not invested, had no plans to invest, had not placed an order, had not provided factory access and had no agreement with Foundation.
Source - Foundation's founder previously led Synapse, whose bankruptcy left customer funds unresolved
reviewed 2026-07-26 - Foundation founder and CEO Sankaet Pathak previously founded and led Synapse Financial Technologies. Synapse entered bankruptcy in 2024, disrupting access to customer funds held through its financial-technology ecosystem and exposing a disputed shortfall that a US Senate Banking Committee letter estimated at between $65 million and $96 million.
Source
Relations
Relationships
- Advanced Micro Devices
Compute Technology Partner - Foundation and AMD are co-developing the Phantom MK-2 compute architecture around Ryzen AI Embedded X100 processors.
Context
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Shared workflows
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Context tags
- Robot OEM - Stack Layer - Company is building complete humanoid robot systems.
- Humanoid industrial builder - Peer Group - Foundation says it is developing a humanoid for manufacturing, logistics, domestic settings and defence.
- Bipedal locomotion - Capability - Foundation positions Phantom as humanoid; locomotion details should remain derived unless product specs are attached.
- Factories - Customer Environment - Foundation names manufacturing as a target environment.
- Industrial task execution - Workflow - Foundation states target settings include manufacturing and logistics.
- Dexterous manipulation - Capability - Target labor/task execution implies manipulation, but keep derived until product-level evidence is attached.
- Pilot deployments - Commercial Stage - Public development activity exists, but deployment maturity remains early.
