Physical Intelligence Raises $400 Million

(Reuters) – Physical Intelligence, a startup developing foundational software for robots, announced on Monday that it has raised $400 million in early-stage funding. Notable investors include Amazon's Jeff Bezos, OpenAI, and venture capital firms Thrive Capital and Lux Capital.

The funds were raised at a $2 billion valuation, as reported by PitchBook data. Physical Intelligence aims to create a versatile software platform that can operate on various robots, eliminating the need to develop specialized software for specific tasks.

Major tech companies like Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon, and Nvidia are heavily investing in AI, with funding for AI and cloud companies in the U.S., Europe, and Israel projected to reach $79.2 billion by the end of 2024, according to venture capital firm Accel.

Various startups are entering the robotic AI market, including Vicarious (acquired by Alphabet-owned Intrinsic in 2022), Universal Robots, Seegrid, and Covariant.

Elon Musk has previously stated that by 2040, there could be at least 10 billion humanoid robots priced between $20,000 and $25,000. Tesla recently showcased its latest version of the Optimus humanoid robot during the unveiling event for its Robotaxi.

Last week, Physical Intelligence published a paper revealing how its software, known as π0 (pi-zero), enables robots to perform tasks like folding laundry, bagging groceries, and retrieving toast from a toaster.