$18.8 billion raised in six months compared to $15 billion for the whole of 2025: embodied AI has become the dominant investment thesis in venture capital.
By the halfway point of 2026, robotics start-ups had already captured $18.8 billion in funding, compared to $15 billion for the whole of 2025 and $14.1 billion at the peak in 2021. The annual record is therefore beaten more than six months ahead of schedule.
A few deals account for the bulk of these amounts: $1.75 billion in Series D for Saronic in Austin, $1.4 billion in Series C for Germany's Neura Robotics, $1.4 billion also for Skild AI in January — a round that tripled its valuation to more than $14 billion — $1 billion in Series A for Beijing's Shihang Intelligent and $520 million in Series A extensions for Apptronik.
This shift reflects a change in investors' outlook. Robotics is no longer perceived as an expensive hardware gamble that ties up capital, but as the physical extension of foundation models, under the label of "embodied AI". The movement is also spreading to listed markets: Unitree Robotics is targeting an IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange at a valuation of $3 billion to $7 billion, while Meta and Skild AI are buying up specialized teams to accelerate.
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