Among the investors are Jeff Bezos’ Explore Investments, Microsoft, Nvidia and an Amazon-affiliated fund, Bloomberg reported Friday (Feb. 23), citing unnamed sources.
Other backers include Intel’s venture capital arm, LG Innotek, Samsung’s investment group, Parkway Venture Capital, Align Ventures, ARK Venture Fund, Aliya Capital Partners, Tamarack, Boscolo Intervest and BOLD Capital Partners, according to the report.
Another investor is OpenAI, which once considered acquiring Figure AI, the report said.
Formal agreements are expected to be signed Monday (Feb. 26), though the numbers could change, per the report.
Figure AI did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
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The main goal of Figure AI is to create a humanoid robot, known as Figure 01, that can perform dangerous jobs and help alleviate labor shortages, according to the report.
The AI robotics industry has been buzzing with activity, as this field applies AI to real-world tasks, the report said. Other companies developing AI robots include 1X Technologies, Sanctuary AI, Tesla and Agility Robotics.
The new reported funding round would come about nine months after a previous one in which Figure AI raised $70 million.
Figure AI said at the time that the funding would support the testing of early warehouse solutions and that the company has identified applications for the robot in industries with pressing labor shortages, including manufacturing, shipping and logistics, warehousing and retail.
“Figure’s near-term goal is to deploy humanoids into the workforce, and we believe that the structured, repetitive, and often dangerous tasks in a warehouse are a great potential first application,” Brett Adcock, the firm’s founder and CEO, said at the time.
Robotics firms like Figure AI are hoping that humanoid robotic devices purpose-built for warehouse tasks can help fill the gap for smaller or more hesitant firms looking to remain competitive in an increasingly autonomous environment without having to be it all on future-fit architecture, PYMTNS reported in June 2023.
Because these robots can operate efficiently in human spaces, they don’t require a remodeling of a warehouse’s infrastructure.
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