The race to perfect the humanoid form factor will be one of the defining tech stories of 2024. Last year the category moved up, as companies want TeslaApptronik and Figure debuted their systems, while Agility moved closer to the finish line, announcing a warehouse pilot with Amazon.
1X is a name (well, a number and a letter) that surprisingly doesn’t have as much column space as most of the above. I say “surprise” because the Norwegian company entered the conversation with a bang in April, announcing a $23.5 million round. This is one of those fund raising cases where the WHERE controversial issues more than how much.
Tiger Global’s participation is certainly noteworthy, but it was OpenAI, the lead of the round, that turned the most heads. It’s understandable, given the role the company has played in the stratospheric rise of genetic artificial intelligence over the past year. This underlying technology is almost certain to play a big role in shaping the future of robotics, and OpenAI has seemingly picked its horse.
This week, 1X announced that it has nearly quadrupled that already respectable number with a $100 million Series B. OpenAI’s name is no longer at the top of that list, however, with EQT Ventures taking top billing. 1X’s total fundraising now stands at an enviable $125 million.
The heart of the company’s game is NEO. The humanoid robot hits a similar figure (so to speak) to some of the competition. It also aims to address a similar issue — namely global labor shortages. The rationale (stop if you’ve heard this before) is that humanoids are the ideal form factor for navigating environments created by humanoids for humanoids. Makes enough sense on its face, right?
However, there is no shortage of critics. Some suggest that such systems are over-engineered. Others (probably rightly) insist that true general purpose functionality is much further away than we are led to believe. That last bit, however, is one of the key places where genetic AI can do a lot of the heavy lifting.
As for where the large sum of money will go, CEO Bernt Øivind Børnich has a refreshingly honest answer, nothing, “It’s the first time we’ve been able to offer a payout to our dedicated team. Their contribution was crucial to our success.”
The funds will also be used to improve the company’s embedded AI offering and go to market for NEO.
