A FieldAI robot.
Courtesy: FieldAI
Bill Gates-backed Robotics startup Field AI has raised $405 million in two funding rounds, with investments from Nvidia‘s venture capital arm and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ family office.
The funding comes during an “aha moment,” founder and CEO Ali Agha told CNBC, as software and hardware reach an inflection point.
“We are growing,” he said. “This funding announcement is to respond to the customer demand.”
The latest round values the two-year-old startup at $2 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified to discuss financial information.
Along with NVentures and Bezos Expeditions, the rounds included investments from Khosla Ventures, Temasek, Canaan Partners and Intel Capital. Samsung and Gates Frontier, the Microsoft founder’s investment fund, previously invested in the company.
The Irvine, California-based company also said the rounds were oversubscribed. Agha said most investors approached FieldAI about investing.
Field AI’s latest round comes during a busy period for robotics startups as companies look to beef up their artificial intelligence offerings and improve on efficiency. Two-time CNBC Disruptor 50 startup Gecko Robotics raised $125 million in June to surpass a $1 billion valuation.
Field AI, which includes former Deepmind, SpaceX, Amazon, Tesla Autopilot and NASA employees, creates models used to control robots worldwide and works across sectors, including construction, energy and logistics.
A FieldAI robot.
Courtesy: FieldAI
The “effortless transferability” across environments and limited work on the customer side helps companies scale robots quickly, Agha said.
Agha spent nearly a decade at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and specializes in robotics autonomy and physical AI. Agha said Field AI has added more than 100 positions over the last few months to meet growing customer demands and address labor shortages and safety efficiency needs.
