Cryptocurrency-friendly investment firm ARK Invest has joined a massive Series A funding round for Apptronik, a Texas-based firm building humanoid robots. Apptronik, on March 18, announced the successful close of an oversubscribed $403M Series A funding round, adding another $53 million to the $350 million round disclosed in February. After investing in Apptronik’s Series A round, ARK has enabled investors to access the company through its ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX), which focuses on “disruptive innovation.” Source: ARK Funds “After investing in their Series A round, the ARK Venture Fund is proud to offer investors access to Apptronik! Download SoFi and gain access today,” ARK wrote in an X post on Tuesday. Mercedes-Benz, Japan Post and Google among investors Led by California-based B Capital and Texas-based Capital Factory, the original $350 million Series A raise also featured participation from tech mogul Google. The latest raise included new investors such as the German automotive giant Mercedes-Benz, early-stage tech investor Japan Post Capital and RyderVentures, a corporate venture capital arm of Ryder System, as well as a syndicate led by Korea Investment Partners. Apptronik’s oversubscribed raise reflects strong market demand and investor confidence in the transformative power of embodied artificial intelligence, or integration of AI into physical systems. Apptronik’s vision: Man plus machine Founded in 2016, Apptronik is a robotics company that spun out of the University of Texas at Austin’s Human-Centered Robotics Lab with the goal of bringing forth the next generation of robots. The company says it has developed 15 robotic systems, including the humanoid robot NASA Valkyrie, before unveiling Apollo — an AI-powered humanoid designed for industrial work. Apptronik’s humanoid robot at trailer unloading. Source: Apptronik “We believe that it is not Man versus Machine, but Man plus Machine that will take humanity into the next stage of evolution,” Apptronik’s website reads . According to TechCrunch, Apptronik’s humanoid work dates back to 2013, when the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Austin competed in the NASA-DARPA Robotics Challenge, focusing on a humanoid robot called Valkyrie. Google’s AI division, DeepMind, has also partnered with Apptronik to deliver embodied AI for its bipedal robots. Related: Not every AI agent needs its own cryptocurrency: CZ ARK Invest’s investment in Apptronik further strengthens the company’s commitment to innovation and technology, as the company’s name acronym itself refers to “Active Research Knowledge.” Apart from Apptronik, ARK has supported a wide number of AI platforms, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Groq and many others. In October 2024, ARK reportedly agreed to invest at least $250 million in OpenAI’s funding round, with the AI firm becoming its third-largest holding in the Ark Venture Fund, accounting for 5% of its total assets. Seven largest companies in the Ark Venture Fund. Source: ARK As of Feb. 28, Elon Musk’s space technology firm, SpaceX, accounts for the largest share of the fund with a weight of roughly 16%, according to the official website. Magazine: Sex robots, agent contracts a hitman, artificial vaginas: AI Eye goes wild
