Unicorn Startup That Makes ‘Superhuman’ Robots Plots Path to IPO
With a $1.65 billion valuation, Dexterity has secured “unicorn” status
- Dexterity, an AI unicorn startup valued at $1.65 billion, focuses on ‘superhumanoid’ robots for demanding and dangerous tasks.
- The company partners with firms like FedEx and Kawasaki, aiming to ‘supercharge’ human workers rather than replace them.
- Analysts project the humanoid market could reach $5 trillion by 2050, driven by labor shortages and the need for physical AI.
The robots are coming, but their arrival might be welcome if artificial-intelligence unicorn startup Dexterity has its way.
California-based Dexterity programs what it describes as “superhumanoids”: large industrial robots built to do physically demanding and dangerous tasks.
The aim, says founder and chief executive Samir Menon, isn’t to replace humans but to amplify them.
“You can try to do robotics in a way that you’re replacing people or you can try to do it in a way that you’re supercharging people,” the 40-year-old said in a recent interview on the sidelines of the ATxSummit in Singapore.
In the AI gold rush of the past years, the startup founded by Menon in 2017 has raked in millions in investment. At a $1.65 billion valuation, it’s secured “unicorn” status.
Dexterity’s robots, designed to operate at temperatures and altitudes unfriendly to humans, have attracted partnerships with U.S. delivery giant FedEx and Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. 8053 0.24%increase; green up pointing triangle
Dexterity’s robots are manufactured via partnerships with industrial veterans like Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which do the manufacturing. Its flagship offering, the Mech, is a roving, two-armed robot that can perform heavy lifting.
“They’re kind of inspired by ‘Transformers’ and ‘Pacific Rim’,” Menon said, in a nod to the Hollywood blockbusters starring giant robots.
Dexterity is currently fundraising and eventually wants to go public in the U.S.
Humanoid companies have been pulling in major investments in recent years. According to Crunchbase, six robotics companies became new unicorns last year. This year, more have joined the ranks, including The Bot Co., a robotics company focused on household chores which Crunchbase said was valued at $2 billion though it still hasn’t released a product.
With profitability for Dexterity still a few years away, Menon says he is prioritizing growth for now. Getting to the IPO stage rests on stable revenue streams and scaling the company, he said.
Menon’s upbeat on that front, seeing a not-too-distant future where industrial robots are commonplace in places like supermarkets and airports.
Market analysts agree. A recent report by Morgan Stanley projects that by 2050, the humanoids market will top $5 trillion. Over 1 billion humanoids could be in use by then, primarily in commercial and industrial settings, it said.
The parcel industry, retail and e-commerce sectors are already on the verge of mass adoption, said Menon, predicting take-up by large enterprises that will be “a great foundational step for physical AI.”
That doesn’t necessarily have to be bad news for the labor market, he said.
If robotics firms want to be non-disruptive, they will focus on making robots that are superhuman in size, strength, and can work in extreme heat and cold, said Menon, who holds a doctorate in computer science from Stanford University.
“You can build [robots] in a way that you’re copying the human shape, in which case it’s designed to replace a human,” he said. “It’s a strategic decision. We took the decision to do robotics in a way that supercharges people.”
Robots can help fill market gaps, the tech CEO argues.
In many developed societies, declining birthrates and longer lifespans mean shrinking workforces need to support growing retiree populations.
Bain & Company estimates that by 2030, the global shortage of manufacturing workers could reach nearly 8 million, boosting the need for robots to sustain economic growth. While humanoids won’t replace swaths of workers overnight, they will take a meaningful share of physical jobs as tech advances and costs fall, the consulting firm said in a report.
For Menon, worker deficits mean there is a way to introduce robots in markets like the U.S., Japan and Europe “in a non-disruptive manner.”
Big improvements in standards of living in certain developed markets help too, he added. “A lot of people don’t really want to do extremely low-paying, very stressful tasks.”