1X, the humanoid robot developer backed by none other than OpenAI, has reportedly announced its fundraising has added another $100M, now totalling to approximately $125M, as reported by Tech Crunch.
Bloomberg adds to the story reporting that 1X technologies said on Thursday the funds from the most recent equity round, in which EQT Ventures served as the lead investor, will be utilized to introduce NEO to the market.
As per 1X's announcement, the company has already received over $125 million in less than a year after closing a successful Series A investment round spearheaded by ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Tiger Global.
1X's humanoid robot officially called NEO shares a similar visual structure with other humanoid robots available on the market. The robot's main goal is reportedly solving the worldwide labor shortage problem.
This latest model is in development and is reportedly using two feet to walk and move like a person. It can organize and clean at home. NEO is also supposedly "safe to work among people" and may be used to run machines and conduct difficult jobs in industrial environments, according to the manufacturer.
1X's Funding Allocation
CEO Bernt Øivind Børnich had a rather sincere reaction as per the Tech Crunch report, when asked where the big quantity of money will go, The CEO stated that this is the first time they will be able to offer a payout for the company's dedicated team while simultaneously lauding the team's assistance to be essential to the company's success.
The money will also reportedly be used to improve the company's go-to-market strategy for NEO and its Embodied AI service.
Bloomberg adds that the funds will also be used to help the company fulfill their goal of commercially producing safe and sophisticated androids, said Børnich in an email. While continuing to bring on additional employees, the business added that it will be able to increase its production capacity as it aims to produce hundreds of androids each month.
A Booming Humanoid Robot Market
Aside from the company's NEO, 1X is already selling a different humanoid robot, EVE, that Yahoo News described as a robot that utilizes a customized version of GPT-4, the software that powers ChatGPT, the Norwegian startup's EVE Android can scan shelves and generate recipes depending on what it 'sees'. With the help of GPT-4V, EVE may "think up" meals based on its observations, such as the items on a shelf.
This latest development in the humanoid robot market proves to show a competitive industry with no signs of stopping. Bloomberg reports that several humanoid robots have already been introduced by notable brands in recent year.
This includes Tesla Inc.'s "Optimus," Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Corp.'s "Phoenix," and Figure AI Inc.'s "Figure 01." Additionally, Amazon.com Inc. has started the first commercial testing of an Agility Robotics Inc.-built humanoid robot named "Digit."
