SoftBank Group and Nvidia are reportedly in discussions to lead an investment exceeding $1 billion at a $14 billion valuation in Skild AI, a company focused on creating a foundational robotics model, according to Reuters.
This nearly three-year-old startup was valued at $4.7 billion in May after raising $500 million in a funding round that included contributions from SoftBank, LG Technology Ventures, Samsung, Nvidia, and others, as highlighted by PitchBook data. Skild did not respond to inquiries for comment, and both SoftBank and Nvidia opted not to provide any statements.
Unlike many other well-funded startups, Skild AI isn’t building its own hardware. Instead, it is working on a robot-agnostic foundational model capable of being tailored to different types of robots and various applications.
In July, the company introduced its general-purpose robot model, Skild Brain, showcasing videos of robots performing tasks like picking up dishes and navigating stairs. Skild has formed strategic partnerships with LG CNS and Hewlett Packard Enterprise to enhance its ecosystem.
Interest from investors in AI robotics continues to grow. Physical Intelligence, which is also developing “brains” for a wide array of robots, recently raised around $600 million at a valuation of $5.6 billion, led by CapitalG. One investor who assessed Physical Intelligence but chose not to invest mentioned to TechCrunch that its model is still in a nascent development stage.
In September, Figure, a company creating a humanoid robot, secured over $1 billion at a striking $39 billion valuation. Similarly, 1X, another developer of humanoid robots, has been in negotiations to obtain up to $1 billion at a valuation of $10 billion, as reported by The Information a few months back.
