AI startup Humanoid raises £114m led by Prime Movers Lab with Schaeffler
This article covers Humanoid, an AI startup that has raised £114m in a growth funding round at a £1bn post-money valuation. The funding will be used to accelerate development and manufacturing of its humanoid robots for industrial use, targeting deployments in logistics, manufacturing and retail and influencing labour and automation planning across European industry.
Humanoid, an AI startup based in the UK, has raised £114 million in a growth funding round at a £1 billion post‑money valuation. The capital brings total financing to more than £200 million and will be used to accelerate development and manufacturing of its humanoid robots for industrial use.
Why it matters
The raise is notable for two reasons. First, it signals significant private capital flowing into physical robotics that combine advanced AI with bespoke hardware rather than pure software play. Second, Humanoid is positioning itself to move humanoid robots from long‑running research projects into commercial environments such as factories, warehouses and retail spaces — a shift that has implications for labour planning and automation strategies across European industry.
If the company meets its deployment targets, the technology would address chronic labour shortages in logistics and manufacturing by automating complex physical tasks that today require human judgement and dexterity. That transition would test claims about safety, reliability and cost effectiveness for robots operating alongside people.
Inside the product
Humanoid develops wheel‑based humanoid robots built on its in‑house robotics hardware and an AI stack called KinetIQ, which the company describes as a four‑layer framework for perception, reasoning and execution. The design focus is on robots that can understand, plan and carry out multi‑step physical tasks in real industrial environments rather than performing single, repetitive motions.
The company says it has a team of more than 250 engineers and researchers distributed across offices in London, Boston, Vancouver and San Diego. It also lists commercial partnerships with several Fortune 500 firms, including SAP, NVIDIA and Siemens, and says it is targeting initial deployments in logistics, manufacturing and retail. Product milestones cited by the company include a Beta robot roll‑out scheduled for Q4 2026 and the start of mass manufacturing of wheel‑based humanoid robots thereafter.
Who are the investors?
The round was led by Prime Movers Lab and included strategic and financial participants: Schaeffler, Bosch, Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital and Aglaé Ventures. The funding brings Humanoid’s total capital raised to over £200 million and the company says the post‑money valuation is £1 billion.
Prime Movers Lab is a US deep‑tech investor known for backing hardware and science‑driven companies. Schaeffler is an industrial motion‑technology company that is also named as a commercial partner for large‑scale robot deployments. Bosch is participating both as an investor and as a contract manufacturing partner through Robert Bosch Robotics GmbH, providing manufacturing, hardware design and supply‑chain expertise. Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital and Aglaé Ventures join as financial backers.
In the announcement, Zia Huque, General Partner at Prime Movers Lab, said:
Humanoid robotics will be one of the defining technologies of the next decade, reshaping how commercial and industrial work gets done. We expect the field to consolidate around a handful of category leaders across the US, Europe, and China. Humanoid AI will be one of a small cadre of robotics companies that will define humanoid robotics in Europe and beyond.
In the announcement, Klaus Rosenfeld, CEO of Schaeffler, said:
Humanoid robotics is rapidly moving from a visionary concept to an industrial reality, and Schaeffler, as a leading motion technology company, is uniquely positioned to help shape this evolution. By combining our decades of industrial expertise and manufacturing excellence with Humanoid's breakthrough physical AI platform, we are actively backing one of the most exciting frontiers in technology. We are proud to support Humanoid as both a strategic investor and a commercial partner as they scale a technology that holds the power to fundamentally redefine productivity across global industries.
In the announcement, Mathias Pillin, Chief Technology Officer of Robert Bosch GmbH, said:
We see significant growth opportunities in the field of humanoid robotics. Through our subsidiary Robert Bosch Robotics GmbH we have already entered into a manufacturing partnership with Humanoid. Bosch will act as Humanoid's contract manufacturing partner, while also providing strategic consulting and technical expertise in hardware design, production, and supply chain.
If you're researching potential backers in this space:
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Founder perspective
In the announcement, Artem Sokolov, Founder & CEO at Humanoid, said:
In just two years, we've gone from an idea to becoming Europe's first pure-play humanoid robotics unicorn, partnered with some of the world's leading industrial companies and built one of the strongest pipelines in the industry. What we've accomplished in such a short time would typically take a decade. None of this would have been possible without an extraordinary team that challenges every single day what people believe is possible. This funding gives us the resources to move even faster and to turn humanoid robots from breakthrough technology into everyday industrial tools.
Sokolov founded the company in 2024 and is positioning Humanoid on a fast product roadmap that moves from prototypes to commercial units and mass manufacturing within a multi‑year window.
The bigger picture
Humanoid’s raise highlights a broader trend: growing interest from AI investors in robotics companies that combine machine learning with hardware. The sector faces well known hurdles — safety validation, durable supply chains, unit economics and the long sales cycles of industrial customers — but strategic corporate partners and contract manufacturing relationships can shorten the path to volume production.
For the UK and Europe, a company advancing industrial humanoid robots raises questions about regional capabilities to scale hardware startups, secure manufacturing capacity and integrate next‑generation automation into existing factories. If Humanoid can convert its design and partnerships into reliable field deployments, it would be a notable example of turning advanced robotics research into commercial infrastructure — with implications for jobs, industrial competitiveness and the region’s role in hardware innovation.
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