Humanoid raises $152 million to start mass manufacturing wheeled robots
Artem Sokolov's two-year-old UK robotics company Humanoid is valued at $1.35 billion as it prepares Q4 beta deployments and wheeled-robot manufacturing.
By Ryan Merket · Published
Why it matters
Humanoid has paired a $152 million round with industrial investors and a planned large-scale Schaeffler deployment. Its valuation now rests on Q4 beta performance and the company's ability to manufacture reliable wheeled robots.
Artem Sokolov's Humanoid raised a $152 million Series A at a $1.35 billion post-money valuation, according to a Reuters report carried by Euronext on July 21. The financing brings Humanoid's total funding to $270 million and gives Humanoid capital for beta deployments and the start of mass manufacturing, according to Tech.eu.
Prime Movers Lab led the round. Schaeffler, Bosch, Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital and Aglae Ventures participated. Bosch and Schaeffler are more than financial backers. Tech.eu says Schaeffler has signed a large-scale deployment agreement with Humanoid, while Humanoid has separately announced a Bosch partnership following a proof of concept.
Humanoid says the money will fund a next-generation robot platform, commercial deployments, development of its KinetIQ software and the start of mass manufacturing for wheeled robots. Beta units are scheduled to reach customer sites in Q4 2026 across manufacturing, logistics, retail and other industrial operations.
That timetable leaves Humanoid with a short runway between beta hardware and its stated manufacturing ambitions. The funding announcement did not disclose revenue, unit economics, Humanoid's current manufacturing capacity or the number of robots Humanoid has built.
Sokolov is focusing first on industrial work
Tech.eu identifies Sokolov as Humanoid's founder and CEO; his statement in the funding announcement says Humanoid went from an idea to a robotics unicorn in two years.
Humanoid is targeting manufacturing, logistics and other industrial settings with wheeled robots. Humanoid presents those machines as a response to labor shortages and plans to direct part of the Series A toward long-term commercial deployments at customer facilities.
The wheeled design fits the flat, structured floors common in factories and warehouses. Humanoid's near-term commercial bet is a mobile industrial machine with arms and an AI control stack rather than a robot designed around bipedal movement.
In remarks carried by Tech.eu, Sokolov said the new funding would help Humanoid "turn humanoid robots from breakthrough technology into everyday industrial tools."
Strategic investors bring industrial relationships
Schaeffler gives Humanoid a prospective proving ground. Tech.eu says the companies signed a large-scale commercial agreement covering the deployment of thousands of humanoid robots in manufacturing environments. Humanoid has also announced the agreement, though the public materials cited here do not establish its deployment schedule or commercial terms.
Bosch participated in the financing after Humanoid announced a partnership following a proof of concept. The available source material does not specify Bosch's production responsibilities or the scope of that partnership.
The round gives Humanoid capital alongside relationships with established industrial companies. Schaeffler's planned deployment could provide an important test of whether Humanoid can move from beta units to robots that perform reliably inside operating factories. Delays in beta performance or manufacturing would put that progression at risk.
KinetIQ has to make the hardware useful
Humanoid calls KinetIQ its proprietary AI brain. Tech.eu describes it as the software layer that lets Humanoid's robots interpret industrial environments and carry out complex physical tasks. Humanoid plans to use part of the Series A for further AI and software development as it works toward a general-purpose industrial robot.
The funding announcement does not provide evidence of sustained, unsupervised performance at production scale. Humanoid will need to show that KinetIQ can support reliable work at customer sites as beta deployments begin.
That test will determine whether the $1.35 billion valuation holds up. Humanoid is competing against far better-capitalized US developers. Figure raised more than $1 billion in 2025 at a $39 billion valuation, while Apptronik has raised more than $935 million in its Series A to scale Apollo production and deployments.
Capital has moved faster than commercial adoption across the sector. Gartner predicted in January that fewer than 20 humanoid developers will reach production in manufacturing and supply-chain settings by 2028. Gartner cited weak dexterity, integration problems, battery constraints and costs that remain higher than task-specific machines.
Sokolov has built Humanoid's approach around a wheeled design and relationships with industrial companies. The Series A gives Humanoid the resources to test that approach at scale. The next evidence will come from customer floors, where uptime, speed and cost carry greater weight than a fundraising valuation.