Humanoid bot startup Figure raises $675 million, signs collaboration agreement with OpenAI

Figure, an AI robotics company developing general purpose humanoid robots, has announced that it has raised $675M in Series B funding at a $2.6B valuation with investments from Microsoft, OpenAI Startup Fund, NVIDIA, Jeff Bezos (through Bezos Expeditions), Parkway Venture Capital, Intel Capital, Align Ventures, and ARK Invest. The investment will accelerate Figure's timeline for humanoid commercial deployment, the company stated.

In conjunction with this investment, the company announced it has entered into a collaboration agreement with OpenAI to develop next generation AI models for humanoid robots, combining OpenAI's research with Figure's deep understanding of robotics hardware and software. The collaboration aims to help accelerate Figure's commercial timeline by enhancing the capabilities of humanoid robots to process and reason from language, Figure added.

"We've always planned to come back to robotics and we see a path with Figure to explore what humanoid robots can achieve when powered by highly capable multimodal models. We're blown away by Figure's progress to date and we look forward to working together to open up new possibilities for how robots can help in everyday life," said Peter Welinder, VP of Product and Partnerships at OpenAI.

Figure added that its team, made up of top AI robotics experts from Boston Dynamics, Tesla, Google DeepMind, and Archer Aviation, has made remarkable progress in the past few months in the key areas of AI, robot development, robot testing, and commercialization, citing its recent agreement with BMW Manufacturing to bring humanoids into automotive production. This new capital will be used strategically for scaling up AI training, robot manufacturing, expanding engineering headcount, and advancing commercial deployment efforts.

"Our vision at Figure is to bring humanoid robots into commercial operations as soon as possible. This investment, combined with our partnership with OpenAI and Microsoft, ensures that we are well-prepared to bring embodied AI into the world to make a transformative impact on humanity," said Brett Adcock, Founder and CEO of Figure. "AI and robotics are the future, and I am grateful to have the support of investors and partners who believe in being at the forefront."

Figure will leverage Microsoft Azure for AI infrastructure, training, and storage. "We are excited to collaborate with Figure and work towards accelerating AI breakthroughs. Through our work together, Figure will have access to Microsoft's AI infrastructure and services to support the deployment of humanoid robots to assist people with real world applications," said Jon Tinter, Corporate Vice President of Business Development at Microsoft.

Figure is a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company with a team of 80 employees, founded 21 months ago. However, there are multiple vendors developing humanoid robots capable of tasks like tote handling in fulfillment processes. Competitors include Appatronik, as well as Agility Robotics, which raised $150 million in an investment round back in 2022. Last fall, it was announced that Amazon would begin testing Agility Robotics' Digit robot.

Analysts see strong potential for humanoids in warehousing, but some contend it will take time for humanoid bots to be adopted at meaningful scale in operations. For example, Ash Sharma, managing director at Interact Analysis, writing in an Interact Analysis blog post from last fall, after it was announced Amazon would begin piloting Agility's Digit, noted that "warehousing offers the perfect combination of repetitiveness and menial work, coupled with a lack of standardization and a lack of uniformity of things handled" within which "the flexibility of humanoid robots could deliver a solution to the ongoing labor and skills crisis in the logistics industry."

However, Sharma added that adoption of humanoids will take time to develop, as there can be a big lag time between high-profile pilot programs to deploying humanoids at scale. As Sharma noted, "It looks as though the widespread use of humanoid workers in the warehouse is some way off despite Amazon’s latest move. Pilots of new technology such as this can take upwards of 18 months and, if successful, rollout tends to be in small steps. However, Amazon has always been a leader in its use of robotics and the rest of the industry tends to follow (or fail!), so this pilot could be the catalyst for humanoid robot uptake in the coming years."