- Agility Robotics is going public via a SPAC merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI at a $2.5B valuation, with more than $620M in expected gross proceeds.
- Unlike every other humanoid robotics company, Agility already has robots working in live commercial environments — across nine customer facilities, accumulating more than 65,000 hours of operation.
- Foxconn, the manufacturer behind the iPhone, is leading the PIPE investment — a signal that humanoid robotics is entering a scale-manufacturing phase, not just a research phase.
In most robotics companies, the robots live in videos. At Agility Robotics, they live in warehouses. That distinction is about to become worth $2.5B.
The Oregon-based company announced that it will go public through a merger with blank-check vehicle Churchill Capital Corp XI. The transaction is expected to generate more than $620M in gross proceeds, including $420M from Churchill XI’s trust account and roughly $200M through a private investment in public equity led by Foxconn.
The combined company will list on Nasdaq under the ticker AGLT.
From the Oregon State lab to the warehouse floors
Agility Robotics was founded in 2015 by Dr Jonathan Hurst, Dr Damion Shelton, and Mikhail Jones, three researchers who spun the company out of Oregon State University’s Dynamic Robotics Laboratory, where they spent years studying how legged machines could move and work like people. It is headquartered in Salem, Oregon, and is now led by CEO Peggy Johnson, the former Microsoft executive who previously ran Magic Leap.
“We set out to build robots capable of performing useful physical work in environments designed for people. We believe cooperative safety is the critical unlock for scaled humanoid adoption, and our next-generation Digit represents an important milestone toward a future where robots become trusted partners in the workplace,” says Hurst.
That mission has a commercial track record. Agility’s flagship robot, Digit, is a two-legged humanoid designed to move totes, transport goods, and handle material tasks in warehouses, factories, and logistics centres, without cages or specially structured environments. It currently operates on live production floors at Schaeffler, GXO, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, and Mercado Libre. Across nine customer facilities, Digit has logged more than 65,000 operating hours.
The next version, Digit v5, is designed to go further. Agility describes it as the world’s first cooperatively safe humanoid that can work alongside people in dynamic environments without physical segregation, and with enough dexterity to handle smaller objects that earlier versions could not.
The company has already secured more than $300M in multi-year orders for Digit v5, subject to contractual milestones, from a pipeline of over 30 customers. NVIDIA selected Agility as the launch partner for NVIDIA Halos, its full-stack safety system for physical AI, and the company is also collaborating with Google DeepMind on its underlying AI platform.
The proof gap that separates Agility from its rivals
That track record separates Agility from its best-funded rivals.
Figure AI recently raised $1.5B at a reported $39.5B valuation, backed by Microsoft, Nvidia, and Jeff Bezos, but has not disclosed comparable deployment data. Apptronik raised $350M to scale its Apollo robot platform across manufacturing environments.
Both are credible competitors. But where they are still building toward commercial proof, Agility is already sitting on years of real-world operational data that feeds back into its AI systems and compounds with every hour Digit runs.
Why Foxconn’s involvement signals a new phase for the industry
Foxconn’s role as PIPE lead matters for reasons beyond the cheque. The Taiwanese manufacturer built its global reputation solving the hardest part of hardware: supply chains, production economics, and consistent output at scale. It is the company that made it possible to manufacture the iPhone in the hundreds of millions. Its backing signals that humanoid robotics is entering the same inflexion.
Agility already sources approximately 75% of Digit’s components within the United States, and operates RoboFab, a dedicated humanoid factory in Salem designed to eventually produce up to 10,000 robots per year.
“Churchill Capital is proud to partner with companies that are shaping the future of technology and commerce. Agility is a humanoid first mover with proven technology, real-world deployments, and the trust of some of the world’s most demanding enterprises,” notes Michael Klein, chairman and CEO of Churchill Capital Corp XI.
“Humanoid robots are a critical driver of American technology leadership and the future of global industry. We believe humanoids are at a meaningful inflexion point in commercial adoption, and we are focused on meeting growing customer demand, expanding deployments, and advancing our roadmap across robotics, physical AI, safety systems, and enterprise software,” Johnson adds.
The company’s management estimates the addressable market across US manufacturing, distribution, and logistics at approximately $1 trillion. Agility is backed by DCVC, Nvidia, Amazon, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Schaeffler, Foxconn, Abico, and Playground Global.
All existing shareholders will roll their equity into the combined company and face a 180-day lock-up at close. Proceeds will fund the fulfilment of existing orders, expansion of commercial deployments, and scaling of Digit v5 production. The transaction is expected to close in 2026, subject to Churchill XI shareholder approval and SEC review.
The robots are already working. The harder question, whether they can be manufactured cheaply enough and deployed broadly enough to justify a $2.5B price tag on day one of public trading, is the one Wall Street will now have to answer.
