Robotics capital moves — 14–20 September 2026
Funding rounds, acquisitions and other capital transactions across robotics, autonomous systems and their enabling technologies.
Major funding rounds
D-Robotics closed a $400 million Series C with a strategic investment from an unnamed leading global internet company, institutional investors and returning shareholders. The capital will expand its Sunrise chip portfolio and software covering data collection, model training, simulation, inference and deployment.
The company supplies compute platforms and developer infrastructure across humanoid, logistics, home-service and other robot categories. It reported more than 8 million cumulative Sunrise chip shipments in the first half of 2026. Its S600 embodied-AI chip had been adopted by more than 20 customers, with most of those projects already in mass production, according to D-Robotics.
Exein raised $270 million at a $1.7 billion valuation in an oversubscribed round led by Headline. Sofina, Goldman Sachs, EIB Group through ETCI, KfW Capital and T.Capital participated alongside returning investors. The equity financing supports expansion in the United States and Asia-Pacific and its security platform for robots, drones, vehicles and other connected machines.
Its Photon runtime architecture operates at the kernel level to block malicious execution. Exein is also training a Physical AI security model on machine telemetry from an installed footprint exceeding two billion devices, with initial models expected in the first quarter of 2027. Separately, it is expanding a revolving credit facility led by J.P. Morgan to support acquisitions; the company did not disclose the enlarged facility’s size.
Watney Robotics raised an $80 million Series A co-led by Valor Atreides AI Fund and Hummingbird Ventures, with Conviction, Abstract, A* and Grant Gordon continuing their participation. The round takes total funding above $100 million.
Watney builds dexterous robotic systems for hyperscaler data-centre deployment and has served customer facilities through an end-to-end deployment model since 2025. It reports hundreds of thousands of operating hours with more than 99.99% reliability. The funding supports expansion of that hardware and deployment business as customers build larger compute infrastructure.
ENCOS completed a Series B of more than RMB300 million, with investors including CITIC Goldstone, Nice Group, Suzhou Innovation Investment, Huarui Investment and Nanjing Transportation. Returning backers including Fosun, Shenzhen Capital Group, Huakong, Jinqiu and Puhua continued investing. The proceeds support product development, manufacturing capacity and commercial expansion.
The company supplies integrated robot joints combining motors, reducers and drives, and has extended its range into dexterous hands, data gloves and batteries. Its EC-DexHand-5F has 20 active degrees of freedom, while its matching gloves capture hand-joint movements for robot training. The round supports both the actuation components used by robot manufacturers and the manipulation hardware needed to collect and execute learned skills.
Planted raised $31.8 million co-led by Piva Capital and RA Capital Management Planetary Health, with Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Gigascale Capital, Google and Khosla Ventures participating. The funding expands its field-robot fleet and supports Sage, its next-generation construction robot scheduled to enter the field in late 2026.
Its system combines planning software, terrain-following solar arrays, storage and robotic installation. Planted says it deployed more than 10 MW in 2025 and is on track for 100 MW in 2026, with its existing fleet committed through 2027. Manufacturing and fielding additional Sage units is intended to increase the capacity available for customer projects.
PaXini announced a B++ financing of several hundred million RMB from investors including Guangxin Fund, Sichuan Science and Technology Innovation Investment Group and Suqian Industrial Development Venture Capital. Returning investors including Jingming Capital increased their backing. The announcement follows its RMB1 billion strategic financing in August and brings cumulative financing above RMB4 billion.
PaXini develops tactile sensors, dexterous hands and humanoid systems, combining contact sensing with manipulation hardware. Its products give robots information about forces and surface contact during physical interaction, supporting tasks where vision alone cannot establish the state of a grasp. The September amount describes the B++ financing; the RMB4 billion figure covers the company’s funding history.
Zeno AI
Zeno AI, also known as Zeno Robotics, completed seed financing of several hundred million RMB from Sunny Optical, MetaX, Zhongwang Yinxin, Saiyi Industrial Fund and Heli Capital. The Hangzhou company was founded in 2025 and develops physical intelligence built around foundation models.
Its Zeno-1 collaborative-intelligence model is part of a programme to build robots capable of reliable, dexterous work. The approach connects perception, reasoning and physical control so systems can respond to their environment and coordinate actions. The financing supports an early company developing the intelligence underpinning robotic systems, rather than a disclosure of large-scale robot deliveries.
LiberAI completed a Pre-A++ financing of several hundred million RMB from Zhongguancun Science City, Fortune Capital, Gaoxin Capital and China Vision Capital. The funds will accelerate production of its demonstration-recording hardware, construction of multimodal physical-world datasets and iteration of its embodied-intelligence models.
The company combines human manipulation recordings with world models, linking its own data-capture hardware to model training. These recordings supply examples of how people move objects and interact with their surroundings, while the models learn representations intended to support robot action. The round advances the hardware, data and training pipeline together, helping turn demonstrations into reusable manipulation skills.
Genisom AI announced a Series B of several hundred million RMB led by UAE-based Stone Venture. Participating investors included Hongshan Capital, GDF Financial, Wuzhong Rongyue, Wuzhong Financial Holding, Neusoft, Highpower Technology, Vision Capital and Riyee.
The company develops quadruped and humanoid robots alongside embodied-intelligence systems. It says the financing will support continued work on robot hardware, the higher-level intelligence and movement-control systems used to operate it, and task execution. The programme combines development of the physical machine with the software needed to carry out useful work.
Viabot raised a $24 million Series A led by Walden International, with CDIB Capital Group and Stalwart Ventures joining returning investors Baseline Ventures, Era Ventures, Morado Ventures and SOSV. The capital supports sales and engineering recruitment, new products and expansion of its Robotics-as-a-Service model.
Viabot One automates outdoor commercial-property care, including collection of trash and debris and monitoring of properties. The company says the platform services 25 million square feet and its robotic intelligence has been trained on more than 5 billion square feet of multimodal operating data. The financing will support further development and deployment of that maintenance platform.
Additional funding rounds
Yincheng Intelligence completed a Series A of nearly RMB100 million co-led by Huamin Investment and Shanghai Semiconductor Industry Investment, with returning investor DT Capital participating. The Shanghai company also disclosed an order from SF Express worth approximately RMB100 million or more, with initial robots intended for parcel induction at express sorting centres and thousands of deployments planned over two years.
Its Starborn picking robot uses the company’s NECESSI embodied-intelligence model to handle parcels with different sizes, materials and shapes, including soft bags and irregular packages. Operating data from logistics sites feeds subsequent training and testing. The financing follows its May angel round and supports expansion of this parcel-handling business; the SF Express order and deployment plan are separate from money raised in the round.
SiboHuiyi
SiboHuiyi announced a Pre-A+ financing of nearly RMB100 million led by Nuoyu Capital, with Pudong Venture Capital, the Pien Tze Huang Yingke Fund, Tongyang Fund and Taihu aerospace investors participating. The funds will support registration, clinical trials and commercial development of its magnetic interventional-surgery robot.
The platform uses magnetic control to guide instruments through blood vessels, with a Foton 4D-DSA imaging module and the complete Maxwell system under development. The company has begun regulatory work for China, the United States and Europe and plans animal studies, clinical trials and registration submissions during 2026–2028. Those steps describe its development pathway, rather than an approved commercial surgical system.
Synapath AI completed Pre-A financing reported at approximately RMB100 million, co-led by CDH Baifu and Kunpeng Fund. Guangzhou Industrial Investment and Yihe Capital participated, while returning investor Trend Investment increased its backing. The company’s third financing within one month supports development and validation of its SynaTac contact-intelligence technology.
Synapath’s SynaData converts human activity videos into structured robot-training data, including movement, object position and contact information. SynaTac combines tactile signals with vision and robot state to train contact strategies, adjusting actions in response to slip, resistance and deformation. The new capital extends an established data business into the sensing and control needed for robots to carry out manipulation tasks.
Robocurve raised a $10 million seed round led by Initialized Capital, with participation from Notable Capital, Decasonic, Y Combinator and Halcyon Futures. The capital will expand its research team, increase the range of robots and tasks evaluated and support academic groups developing open benchmarks.
The public-benefit company independently tests how frontier AI models control physical robots and publishes the results. Its Inspect Robots evaluation harness had exceeded 97,000 downloads, and researchers from more than 200 institutions had registered for its benchmark programme. Funding supports broader measurement of real robot performance, including capabilities and limitations that cannot be established from model demonstrations alone.
Logibot raised €1.4 million in a round led by BeamBerlin, the BEUMER-backed startup studio, with RDY Ventures, PMV and BAN Business Angels participating. The funds will expand initial customer deployments and support assembly of a second robot system in Zellik, Belgium. One robot is already operating for a Scandinavian logistics and postal group in Denmark.
Logibot’s software evaluates warehouse workflows, tests suitable robot hardware in a digital twin, trains systems for specific tasks and integrates them into operations. Monitoring and remote teleoperation remain available during use. The platform works across robot manufacturers so logistics operators can choose equipment suited to a task while keeping training, control and supervision within a shared software layer.
Ture Intelligent
Ture Intelligent completed its first institutional financing of tens of millions of RMB from industrial investors including Power Future Technology and Tongli Technology, alongside Huang Yuexian and Liu Shaojie. The funds will support an embodied-intelligence pilot facility, production lines and recruitment.
The company provides robot design and manufacturing services and real-world task data. Its technology spans integrated joints, motion controllers, energy management, robot bodies and data-collection and training systems. The planned pilot facility will generate operating data for model development and algorithm testing, while the production investment is intended to improve delivery of customised robots for manufacturing, warehouse logistics and inspection.
Rye Robotics completed angel financing of tens of millions of RMB from Yuda Capital. The funds will build overseas sales and service teams and support additional autonomous mowers for golf-course greens and rough areas. Its Boulder F1 fairway mower, introduced in September 2025, is already sold in China, South Korea and Japan.
Boulder F1 combines electric mowing with RTK, vision and lidar navigation, allowing it to follow a schedule, leave its charging station and return after completing work. Golf courses require different cutting equipment and operating precision across fairways, rough and greens, so the new products extend the company’s coverage beyond its first machine. European expansion is the immediate commercial priority, with a larger North American rollout planned for 2027.
Embra AI closed a $1 million pre-seed round backed by investors with backgrounds at Boston Dynamics, Agility Robotics and NVIDIA. The funds will advance its robotics-data platform, strengthen dataset evaluation and expand its contributor and robotics-partner network.
The platform combines dataset discovery, assessment and sourcing across video, sensor measurements, robot states and actions. Embra is working with three robotics teams and has delivered its first curated datasets. It evaluates factors such as sensor coverage, synchronisation and annotation quality so developers can select data suited to particular machines and tasks, including unfamiliar-object grasping and recovery from failed pickups.
Dental Robotics secured seed investment from AI Angel Club, CNTech, People Investment and Digital Healthcare Partners. The company will use the financing to improve its autonomous dental-suction robot and advance clinical validation and medical-device licensing, with a formal launch targeted for 2028.
The system aligns dental CT and intraoral scans with live camera observations so a six-axis arm can position a suction instrument during treatment. A pressure-sensing end effector helps detect contact, while clinical collaboration with Korea University Anam Hospital is evaluating safety and efficacy. The robot is intended to take on repetitive suction assistance and reduce the workload of dental support staff; it remains under development and validation.
Strategic investments
Medical Microinstruments received a €17 million co-investment from Angelini Ventures and the European Investment Bank. It is the third completed investment under their €150 million European life-sciences programme, following ADCytherix and Nuclidium.
MMI develops Symani, a robotic system for microsurgery and supermicrosurgery using miniature wristed instruments to operate on structures as small as 0.1 mm. The investment backs the Italian-American company through a programme designed to co-fund European biotech, medical-technology and digital-health businesses. The €150 million figure describes the wider programme rather than capital raised by MMI.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Preferred Networks announced a capital and business alliance signed on August 31. MHI plans to invest JPY10 billion through a third-party share allotment, subject to PFN shareholder approval and other required procedures.
The agreement strengthens their June collaboration on AI for machinery and systems serving social infrastructure and national security. It combines MHI’s hardware, control and simulation expertise with PFN’s AI models, chips and computing infrastructure, supporting longer-term research and commercialisation of systems requiring reliable, real-time operation.
Reported and pending acquisitions
SoftBank → Robotics & AI Institute
UndisclosedSoftBank reportedly agreed to acquire the Robotics and AI Institute from Hyundai Motor Group, according to The Robot Report’s September 18 reporting citing multiple sources. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the transaction was under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The report describes a pending acquisition, rather than a completed ownership transfer.
Founded by Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert in 2022, the institute researches robot perception, movement, dexterous manipulation and learning. Its work aims to develop general robot skills beyond individual commercial products. If completed, the acquisition would bring that research organisation into SoftBank’s robotics portfolio. The more than $400 million associated with the institute’s launch is earlier backing, not the reported acquisition price.
Mixed financing packages
AMC Robotics entered a standby equity purchase agreement allowing it to sell up to $50 million of newly issued shares to an institutional investor. Associated convertible notes provide $3.88 million in two tranches, subject to conditions. Access to the equity facility requires an SEC resale-registration statement to become effective.
The company intends to use proceeds for the buildout and commissioning of its robotic manufacturing facility, targeted for November 2026. The arrangements provide a route to fund that production programme through a combination of share sales and convertible borrowing. The $50 million is the facility’s maximum purchase capacity, rather than cash already raised.
Debt and credit facilities
Hangcha Group proposed issuing up to RMB2.259 billion of convertible bonds. The plan allocates RMB758.7 million to a forklift-robot factory and RMB225.2 million to forklift and logistics-robot research, alongside electric-forklift expansion and working capital. Issuance still requires shareholder approval, Shanghai Stock Exchange review and CSRC registration.
The projects extend Hangcha’s materials-handling equipment business into autonomous forklift manufacturing and logistics-robot development. The factory investment funds production infrastructure, while the research allocation supports the systems used to automate movement and handling within industrial sites. These are intended uses of a proposed bond issue, with funding and execution dependent on the approval and issuance process.
Henggong Precision proposed a convertible-bond issue of up to RMB810 million, including RMB350 million for robot-body manufacturing and RMB50 million for a pilot facility and Shanghai research centre. The board approved the plan, but shareholder approval, Shenzhen Stock Exchange review and CSRC registration are still required.
The manufacturer supplies precision machined parts, reducer components and robot structural parts and is developing complete embodied robots. The proposed manufacturing project covers humanoid and quadruped systems, while the pilot and research facilities will support robot development and application validation. The remaining bond proceeds are allocated to equipment components, materials expansion and working capital, so the full financing ceiling is not exclusively robotics investment.
Listings and IPO filings
BigWave Robotics priced its KOSDAQ IPO at KRW18,000 per share, putting the 1.6-million-share offering at KRW28.8 billion. Retail subscriptions ran September 15–16, with listing scheduled for September 29. The figure describes the priced offering before completion and trading.
The company operates Marosol, which matches businesses with automation suppliers; Solink, which connects different robots through a shared operating platform; and OmniSensor, which captures process data. It intends to use the proceeds for industrial humanoid development, international expansion and its Robots-as-a-Service business. The IPO finances expansion from robot selection and integration into ongoing automated operations.
BRILS set its KOSDAQ offer price at KRW19,500 per share, giving the 1.2-million-share issue a gross offering size of KRW23.4 billion. Retail subscriptions were scheduled for September 17–18, with payment on September 22. At the recap date, this was a priced offering awaiting settlement and listing.
BRILS develops modular robot-automation systems that integrate hardware, controls and application engineering for industrial customers. Planned uses of the proceeds include working capital for its US business, expansion of domestic facilities in Songdo and Asan, and about KRW10.7 billion for research facilities and development. The financing supports manufacturing and engineering capacity around its modular robotics platform.
Private funding disclosures
Persona AI filed a Form D reporting $65,363,626 of securities sold to 46 investors toward a total offering of $141,964,814. The filing dates the first sale to August 28 and leaves $76,601,188 to be sold. It does not assign a named venture-round stage or identify a lead investor.
The Houston company develops industrial humanoids for heavy work, including a shipyard-welding programme with HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, HD Hyundai Robotics and VAZIL COMPANY. That programme pairs Persona’s robot hardware and control algorithms with welding tools and shipyard testing, targeting prototype development by the end of 2026 and field demonstrations from 2027. The filing establishes capital sold as of September 14, while the larger offering remains a fundraising target.
Cumulative funding disclosures
Xense Robotics disclosed two completed strategic financings described together as several hundred million RMB, with BlueRun Ventures, a CICC Capital-managed fund and Eminence Ventures among the investors. The proceeds support product upgrades, business expansion and industrialisation, including larger-scale delivery of its visuotactile sensors.
Xense links those sensors with XTac interaction-data collection, Xense Sim tactile simulation, the TacVerse dataset and its X-TouchMind vision–touch–language–action model. The stack captures contact information and uses it to train and adjust manipulation in tasks such as precision assembly, dexterous handling and tactile inspection. Xense reports sensor production in the tens of thousands and more than 300 paying customers, providing a commercial base for further product development.
