SoftBank to invest $500M in robotics startup SkildAI

SoftBank is negotiating a $500 million funding in Skild AI, a software program firm constructing a foundational mannequin for robotics at a $4 billion valuation, Bloomberg and Monetary Occasions reported.

The 2-year-old firm raised its earlier funding spherical of $300 million at a $1.5 billion valuation final July from buyers together with Jeff Bezos, Lightspeed Enterprise Companions, and Coatue Administration.

The corporate’s AI mannequin will be utilized to numerous varieties of robots, Skild founders Deepak Pathak and Abhinav Gupta instructed TechCrunch final July. They stated the generalized mannequin will be modified for a particular area and use case.

The intersection of robotics and AI has witnessed substantial investor curiosity.

Over the latest yr, buyers, significantly Bezos, have elevated their funding to AI-powered robotics firms.

Bodily Intelligence, a startup that raised $400 million at a $2 billion pre-money valuation in November, is one other startup claiming to be creating “brains” for a broad vary of robots. Jeff Bezos, Lux Capital, and Thrive Capital led that spherical.

Final February, Figure AI, a startup constructing an AI-powered humanoid robotic, raised $675 million at a $2.6 billion valuation from Microsoft, OpenAI Startup Fund, Nvidia, Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, and Jeff Bezos (via Bezos Expeditions).