Physical AI startup Manako Labs raises £745k from Nasdaq listed TaoWeave
This article covers Manako Labs, an AI startup, raising £745k in a pre-seed funding round from Nasdaq-listed TaoWeave, which also took preferred North American commercialisation rights and a revenue share on licensing. The investment aims to commercialise Manako’s platform that converts existing camera feeds into real-time operational intelligence for factories, warehouses and retail sites and to accelerate the startup’s expansion into North America.
Manako Labs has raised £745k in a pre-seed funding round from Nasdaq-listed TaoWeave (TWAV), which also takes preferred North American commercialisation rights and a revenue share on licensing. The deal marks TaoWeave’s first operating investment in AI and signals a push from a digital-asset firm into enterprise AI deployment and recurring operating revenue.
Why it matters
The investment highlights a shift in where capital is flowing within AI: beyond model development and into systems that connect AI to physical operations. Manako’s product targets a large, underused data source—existing camera networks—to deliver real-time operational intelligence in factories, warehouses and retail sites. For companies sitting on camera infrastructure, solutions like Manako’s promise incremental productivity and automation without new hardware.
Industry research cited in the announcement estimates the Physical AI market at about £61.1bn ($82bn) in 2025 and suggests it could approach $1 trillion by 2033, underlining the scale of the opportunity for vendors that can operationalise vision-based intelligence.
Inside the product
Manako Labs converts video streams from cameras already installed on site into a Business World Model that tracks activity, detects issues and triggers automated responses. The platform integrates with operational systems to support monitoring and workflow automation across industrial, logistics, retail and infrastructure environments, and is designed to deploy on existing infrastructure without specialist AI teams or new sensors.
Manako also runs Score (Subnet 44) within the Bittensor network, a decentralised AI ecosystem that TaoWeave has engaged with to identify emerging AI technologies. The company recently won first place at Start In Block during Paris Blockchain Week, a sign of external validation from a competitive, international field.
Who are the investors?
TaoWeave, Inc. (Nasdaq: TWAV) is the announced investor. The firm has put in £745k and secured a preferred commercialisation partnership for North America plus rights to revenue generated through licensing. The agreement also provides a pathway for TaoWeave to develop proprietary AI infrastructure within the Bittensor ecosystem and participate in owning and operating Physical AI technologies.
TaoWeave positions this as its first operating platform investment and a strategic move beyond its prior focus on digital-asset treasury activities. The company’s involvement combines capital, go-to-market commercialisation rights in North America and access to the Bittensor subnet where Manako operates.
If you're researching potential backers in this space:
- Explore our list of AI venture capital firms in the UK
- Browse our directory of AI angel investors in the UK
Founder perspective
In the announcement, Pete Holst, Chief Executive Officer of TaoWeave, said:
Our experience in the Bittensor ecosystem has given us a unique perspective on where artificial intelligence is creating real world value.
Physical AI is one of the most compelling opportunities emerging in artificial intelligence. As we spent time with the Manako team, it became clear that they had built something special. The quality of the team, strength of the platform, and the size of the opportunity made this a natural partnership for TaoWeave.
In the announcement, Max Sebti, Chief Executive Officer of Manako Labs, said:
TaoWeave understood very early that the future of AI extends beyond software and into real-world businesses.
That’s why Physical AI is becoming such an important part of enterprise AI. TaoWeave is an ideal commercialisation partner to accelerate our expansion in North America, the world’s largest market for AI adoption.
The bigger picture
This deal sits at the intersection of two trends: the move to embed AI into operational technology and the search by non-traditional investors for recurring enterprise revenues from AI systems. For enterprises, the appeal is pragmatic—improving situational awareness and automating responses using cameras they already have. For investors, the attraction is a route to licensing revenue and commercial partnerships that scale regionally, particularly in North America.
The announcement also reflects the continuing influence of decentralised AI projects like Bittensor in surfacing teams and technologies that then attract institutional capital. For AI investors tracking opportunities beyond pure software incumbents, Physical AI offers a tangible application pathway that can be measured and monetised at customer sites.
This transaction underscores growing interest across the UK and Europe in commercialising AI that connects to the physical world, and it offers a template for how partnerships between listed investment vehicles and early-stage AI startups can accelerate regional expansion and product-market fit.
Click here for a full list of 7,589+ startup investors in the UK