OpenAI-Backed Humanoid Maker Gets $100 Million in EQT-Led Round

Rafaela Lindeberg, Bloomberg News

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Norwegian AI robotics startup 1X Technologies AS raised $100 million to bring to market its second-generation android robot, NEO, that it says can help humans with everyday domestic tasks.

The proceeds from the latest equity round, with EQT Ventures as lead investor, are going to be used for bringing NEO to the market, 1X said on Thursday.

The Oslo-based company stirred media attention in March last year when it raised $23.5 million in a Series A-round led by OpenAI Startup Fund I LP and Tiger Global LP.

“The money will support our mission to produce safe and advanced androids at a commercial scale,” Bernt Oivind Bornich, chief executive officer of 1X, said in emailed comments. “We will be able to ramp up our manufacturing capabilities with the goal of producing hundreds of androids per month – all while continuing to hire new talent.”

1X already sells EVE, an android on two wheels that’s able to perform tasks in factories or operate as a patrolling guard, opening doors, taking elevators and operating keypads.

NEO, the new model that’s in development, walks and moves like a human, on two feet. At home, it’s able to clean and organize. In industrial settings it can be used to operate machinery and handle complex tasks, and is “safe to work among people,” the company said.

The company is competing in a crowded space of humanoid robot makers, facing the challenge of building convincing and commercially viable human-like machines. In recent years, a number of humanoid robots have been unveiled, including Tesla Inc.’s “Optimus,” Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Corp.’s “Phoenix,” and Figure AI Inc.’s “Figure 01.” Amazon.com Inc. has also begun conducting the first commercial testing of a humanoid robot, called “Digit,” built by Agility Robotics Inc.

“With their androids – EVE and NEO – 1X is creating technology that can enhance our workplaces and our lives,” said Ted Persson, partner at EQT Ventures. The funding will help make the robots part of “everyday reality,” he said.

The company’s other shareholders include Samsung Next, a unit of Samsung Electronics Co., as well as investors Thursday Ventures LLC and Type One Ventures LLC. In its home Norway, Sandwater AS and Valinor AS are among the firms that own a slice of the company.

1X declined to disclose its valuation in the round.

--With assistance from Gem Atkinson.