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Robotics startups raise US$23bn in 2026 — already nearing all of 2025.

Humanoid and industrial-automation rounds keep getting larger: Apptronik at US$935m, AI2 Robotics at roughly US$735m.

Jul 2026Robotics & EmergingSolomon Partners Briefing

Global robotics startups have raised more than US$23bn so far in 2026, already approaching the total for all of 2025 — with humanoid and industrial-automation rounds driving the acceleration.

The marquee rounds are unprecedented for the category: Austin-based Apptronik closed US$935m at a valuation above US$5.5bn, while Shenzhen's AI2 Robotics raised roughly US$735m at a near-US$3bn valuation. Tesla's Optimus Gen 3 is reported to be ramping low-volume production at Fremont.

Two theses are being funded at once: that foundation models have cracked general manipulation, and that labor economics make deployment inevitable. Both may be right eventually — but round sizes are pricing them as if they are right now.

Our read.

Capital intensity is arriving before unit economics — the classic late-cycle signature. Our screen separates deployed robots earning contracted revenue from choreographed demos; the gap between those two populations is the widest we have seen in any hardware category.

Source: this briefing summarizes reporting by Briefs, Jul 2026. Prepared by SOLOMON PARTNERS for general information only; not investment advice. Figures as reported at the date shown.

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