3 Robotics Startups That Emerged This Week Date: 2026-09-12 Type: ARTICLE Desk: Robotics Topics: Company Launches, Entertainment Robotics, Industrial Robotics Deck: Three robotics companies surfaced this week across industrial automation, interactive character robots and a new startup from former a16z engineering fellow Jacob Zietek. URL: https://korthosrobotics.com/research/3-robotics-startups-emerged-september-2026 Maven Robotics Maven Robotics emerged from stealth on September 10 with a $100 million Series A for its general-purpose industrial robotics platform, according to TechCrunch. Founded in 2024 by brothers Hamza and Khalid Derbas, the Santa Clara company builds wheeled dual-arm robots for logistics and manufacturing, initially targeting mixed-case palletizing and tote handling. Maven already has robots deployed with customers, including a Fortune 250 consumer-goods company. CEO Hamza Derbas told TechCrunch that as many as eight robots are operating for 16 hours per day with uptime of at least 99%. The company plans to build 250 third-generation robots and expects its fleet to pass 100,000 hours of autonomous real-world operation by the end of 2026. Dynamic Creatures Dynamic Creatures emerged from stealth on September 8 to build mobile, interactive character robots for entertainment and hospitality, as described in Boston Dynamics' announcement. The company was co-founded by CEO Marc Theermann, formerly chief strategy officer at Boston Dynamics, and CTO Farbod Farshidian, a former research leader at the Robotics and AI Institute. Dynamic Creatures is launching as Boston Dynamics' official entertainment and hospitality partner and is already working with a large theme park and retailer on guest-facing robotic characters. Its approach combines robotics, character design and adaptive behaviour, with robots designed to move through venues and respond to individual guests in real time rather than follow fixed animatronic sequences. The company has also introduced SnowJay, its AI and robotics platform for interactive characters, which it describes on its company page. Ixian Robotics Ixian Robotics also surfaced publicly this week after founder Jacob Zietek announced that he had left a16z to start the company in a LinkedIn post. Zietek previously worked as an Engineering Fellow within a16z's American Dynamism practice and has a background spanning robotics, machine learning and autonomous systems, according to his personal site. Ixian’s announcement identified the new robotics company without revealing a product. --- Have a robotics update Korthos should review? Send news, deployments, product releases, funding rounds, research, or media to tips@korthosrobotics.com or reach out on X at @agkorthos.