- Humanoid is a robotics startup based in London that was founded two years ago. The company has raised $152 million at a $1.35 billion valuation, making it the first pure-play humanoid robotics unicorn in Europe.
- Prime Movers Lab, known for backing Figure AI’s $39 billion valuation, led this funding round. Bosch, Schaeffler, and Aglaé Ventures, Bernard Arnault’s investment firm, also took part.
- The company says it has received 34,000 robot pre-orders worth $2.4 billion. Its main product right now is a wheeled robot, while its US and Chinese competitors are focusing on bipedal humanoids.
Humanoid secured 34,000 robot pre-orders worth $2.4 billion before shipping any commercial units. With the new $152 million investment at a $1.35 billion valuation, the company’s total funding has reached $270 million.
A leading investor with a $39 billion track record
Prime Movers Lab, the venture firm that backed Figure AI’s $39 billion valuation, led this funding round. Schaeffler, Bosch, Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital, and Aglaé Ventures, Bernard Arnault’s family investment firm known for supporting consumer and luxury brands, also joined.
”What we’ve accomplished in such a short time would typically take a decade,“ says Artem Sokolov, founder and CEO of Humanoid.
By 2026, humanoid robotics has become one of the top areas for venture investment. Investors have pushed valuations for hardware and AI companies with little reported revenue into the tens of billions. They expect labour shortages in manufacturing, logistics, and retail will make humanoid robots essential within the next decade.
Goldman Sachs predicts the global humanoid robot market will reach about $38 billion by 2035. Figure AI’s valuation already exceeds this, showing how much current pricing is ahead of actual revenue.
Sokolov founded Humanoid in London in May 2024, reportedly investing $30 million of his own capital at launch. He sold his family’s manufacturing business, which he had scaled to $1 billion in revenue over more than a decade, in August 2025. Sokolov said his motivation for founding Humanoid was to develop robots capable of performing repetitive factory work, inspired by his grandparents’ experiences. The company now employs between 51 and 200 people across offices in London, Boston, and Vancouver.
The startup makes both wheeled and bipedal humanoid robots using its HMND 01 platform, which runs on its own AI system called KinetIQ. Humanoid says it built its wheeled alpha version in seven months and its bipedal version in five months, while the industry average is 18 to 24 months. These timelines are self-reported and have not been independently verified. A beta version is planned for release in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Why the claim of being “Europe’s first” is complicated
The claim that Humanoid is “Europe’s first pure-play humanoid robotics unicorn” is challenged by recent events.
In June 2026, Germany’s Neura Robotics closed a Series C round of up to $1.4 billion and is reportedly valued at about $7 billion, backed by Tether, Nvidia, Amazon, and Qualcomm. Barcelona’s THEKER, which raised $85 million in a Series A in June 2026 with support from LVMH, also shows the sector’s growth.
Globally, Humanoid is behind Figure AI and Austin-based Apptronik, which raised $520 million in February 2026 at a valuation between $5 billion and $5.5 billion.
Bosch’s role goes beyond just investing
Bosch is doing more than just investing. Its Robert Bosch Robotics GmbH subsidiary will act as Humanoid’s contract manufacturer and provide strategic advice and technical expertise in hardware design, production, and supply chain. This partnership links one of Europe’s biggest industrial groups directly to Humanoid’s production.
”We see significant growth opportunities in humanoid robotics,“ says Mathias Pillin, chief technology officer of Robert Bosch GmbH.
Zia Huque, general partner at Prime Movers Lab, adds he expects the humanoid robotics industry will soon be led by a few top companies across the United States, Europe, and China, and that Humanoid will be one of them. Klaus Rosenfeld, CEO of Schaeffler AG, said humanoid robotics is ”rapidly moving from a visionary concept to an industrial reality,“ and described Schaeffler’s investment as both strategic and commercial.
The new funding will help Humanoid develop its next-generation robotics platform, start mass production of its wheeled robots, and continue work on KinetIQ. It will also support long-term commercial use in logistics, manufacturing, and retail. With this round, Humanoid’s total funding since 2024 is now $270 million.
