Nvidia-Backed Robotics Startup Field Targets $2 Billion Valuation
The Takeaway
Robotics startup Field AI is in talks with investors to raise money at a $2 billion valuation. The Nvidia-backed startup, which has started to generate revenue, is one of several harnessing generative AI to direct robots.
Field AI, a two-year-old startup that makes artificial intelligence models to power robots, is in talks to raise several hundred million dollars at a $2 billion valuation, according to a person with direct knowledge of the fundraising discussions. That would quadruple the startup’s valuation last summer when investors including Nvidia valued it at $500 million.
The talks are the latest sign of intensifying investor interest in startups that are developing hardware and software for robotics by leveraging generative AI, which can train robots to perform humanlike actions more quickly and accurately than a previous generation.
Unlike some new robotics startups, Field has already started to generate revenue in the millions of dollars from selling access to its specialized models to companies in industries such construction and oil and gas. The models direct other providers’ robots to do everything from constructing a data center to monitoring and inspecting a warehouse to manual tasks, such as picking up a drill or carrying an item.
Field’s AI software operates via a piece of hardware attached to robots, such as those made by Boston Dynamics, which models its robots after animals, or Unitree Robotics, which models them after humans.
Prospective investors for the fundraising couldn’t be learned. The 50-person startup previously raised over $100 million from investors including Khosla Ventures and Temasek.
The financing, if completed, would add to a string of investments in young robotics startups at valuations that are steep increases from prices awarded just months before.
For instance, Skild AI, a two-year-old startup that is developing software to direct various robots, has discussed raising capital from SoftBank at a $4 billion valuation, up from $1.5 billion in July. And Physical Intelligence, a startup founded last year that is also developing foundation models for robots, raised money at around a $2 billion valuation in November, up from a $400 million valuation early last year. It recently launched its first model, called Π0 (Pi-zero).
Based in Mission Viejo, Calif., Field AI is building a multimodal large model, which works with text, images, voice and lidar sensors. Part of the company’s pitch to potential customers is that its models don’t just customize those trained by OpenAI and Anthropic. Instead, Field AI makes its own models that incorporate information integral to directing a robot, such as objects in its surroundings.
The company aims to direct robots in chaotic environments such as construction sites versus models that power single tasks such as taking a box off a truck. It has designed the models to work with any existing robots a manufacturer or warehouse already has, which should make it easier for its customers to start using them.
The team behind Field AI has some experience navigating the competitive robotics landscape. CEO and co-founder Ali Agha was a robotics technologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab.