ARK Invest joins $403M raise for AI robotics firm Apptronik

Cryptocurrency-friendly concern steadfast ARK Invest has joined a monolithic Series A backing circular for Apptronik, a Texas-based steadfast gathering humanoid robots.

Apptronik, connected March 18, announced the palmy adjacent of an oversubscribed $403M Series A backing round, adding different $53 cardinal to the $350 cardinal round disclosed in February.

After investing successful Apptronik’s Series A round, ARK has enabled investors to entree the institution done its ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX), which focuses connected “disruptive innovation.”

Source: ARK Funds

“After investing successful their Series A round, the ARK Venture Fund is arrogant to connection investors entree to Apptronik! Download SoFi and summation entree today,” ARK wrote successful an X station connected Tuesday.

Mercedes-Benz, Japan Post and Google among investors

Led by California-based B Capital and Texas-based Capital Factory, the archetypal $350 cardinal Series A rise besides featured information from tech mogul Google.

The latest rise included caller investors specified arsenic the German automotive elephantine Mercedes-Benz, early-stage tech capitalist Japan Post Capital and RyderVentures, a firm task superior limb of Ryder System, arsenic good arsenic a syndicate led by Korea Investment Partners.

Apptronik’s oversubscribed rise reflects beardown marketplace request and capitalist assurance successful the transformative powerfulness of embodied artificial intelligence, oregon integration of AI into carnal systems.

Apptronik’s vision: Man positive machine

Founded successful 2016, Apptronik is simply a robotics institution that spun retired of the University of Texas astatine Austin’s Human-Centered Robotics Lab with the extremity of bringing distant the adjacent procreation of robots.

The institution says it has developed 15 robotic systems, including the humanoid robot NASA Valkyrie, earlier unveiling Apollo — an AI-powered humanoid designed for concern work.

Apptronik’s humanoid robot astatine trailer unloading. Source: Apptronik

“We judge that it is not Man versus Machine, but Man positive Machine that volition instrumentality humanity into the adjacent signifier of evolution,” Apptronik’s website reads.

According to TechCrunch, Apptronik’s humanoid enactment dates backmost to 2013, erstwhile the Human Centered Robotics Lab astatine the University of Austin competed successful the NASA-DARPA Robotics Challenge, focusing connected a humanoid robot called Valkyrie.

Google’s AI division, DeepMind, has also partnered with Apptronik to present embodied AI for its bipedal robots.

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ARK Invest’s concern successful Apptronik further strengthens the company’s committedness to innovation and technology, arsenic the company’s sanction acronym itself refers to “Active Research Knowledge.”

Apart from Apptronik, ARK has supported a wide fig of AI platforms, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Groq and galore others.

In October 2024, ARK reportedly agreed to put astatine slightest $250 cardinal successful OpenAI’s backing round, with the AI steadfast becoming its third-largest holding successful the Ark Venture Fund, accounting for 5% of its full assets.

Seven largest companies successful the Ark Venture Fund. Source: ARK

As of Feb. 28, Elon Musk’s abstraction exertion firm, SpaceX, accounts for the largest stock of the money with a value of astir 16%, according to the authoritative website.

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