We are entering a golden age of robotics startups — and not just because of AI

When Seth Winterroth near his occupation astatine GE Ventures to assistance motorboat Eclipse Ventures successful 2015, robotics was connected his mind. Or much specifically, the fig of early-stage robotics startups that were struggling to motorboat owed to deficiency of interest.

“These are teams that had conscionable finished their postdocs astatine Waterloo, oregon CMU, oregon MIT, and were starting robotics companies, and the refrain that I continually heard from the startups was, ‘hey, we’re having a truly hard clip raising organization task capital,’” Winterroth told TechCrunch. “At the clip successful Silicon Valley, astir task superior was going into the precise mature exertion furniture oregon the exertion furniture of immoderate precise mature computing platforms.”

A batch has changed since then.

Now, aft investing successful robotics startups for 10 years, Winterroth, a spouse astatine Eclipse, said the clip to put successful robotics has ne'er been better. The robotics startup marketplace has matured and the hardware and bundle powering these bots has gotten importantly amended — and cheaper.

Venture investing successful the class is gaining momentum arsenic well. Investors poured $6 cardinal into robotics startups successful the archetypal 7 months of 2025 according to Crunchbase data. The information institution predicts that this year’s backing totals volition eclipse 2024, making it 1 of the lone non-AI categories to acquisition a boost successful funding.

While 1 could reason that robotics is seeing a surge successful capitalist involvement due to the fact that of AI — and it’s not incorrect to admit AI’s relation successful the advancement of robotic tech — investors who person focused connected the class longer than the past fewer years said the manufacture didn’t get to this constituent conscionable due to the fact that of advancements successful AI implicit the past fewer years.

Reaching maturation

The existent catalyst for the manufacture to commencement gaining momentum really happened backmost successful 2013, Winterroth said, erstwhile Kiva Systems, a tiny startup based retired of Massachusetts, got acquired by Amazon.

“I similar to accidental Kiva Systems’ acquisition was the acquisition that launched 1,000 robotic startups,” Winterroth said. “Between 2011 and 2015, 2016, that truly was the case. You conscionable saw a fig of antithetic caller companies get started. Some similar 6 River Systems, oregon Clearpath Robotics, were successful, but astir were not. But that endowment learns and that learning compounds, and it’s brought into the adjacent acceptable of ventures.”

This archetypal question helped pull engineers to the assemblage and helped companies fig retired product-market-fit, helium said.

Kira Noodleman, a spouse astatine Bee Partners, echoed this. Noodleman told TechCrunch the past decennary of proceedings and mistake helped startups fig retired what the marketplace is really looking for erstwhile it comes to robotics and automation.

Some companies, similar Rapid Robotics which Noodleman backed, unopen down trying to fig retired what the marketplace wanted. Those failures person helped the adjacent batch of startup founders, who present person a overmuch amended thought of what imaginable customers privation from this sector.

Noodleman had a akin acquisition with her ain investing thesis, she said, which changed arsenic the marketplace matured.

“Lights retired manufacturing assumes determination are zero humans successful the loop, that is conscionable not happening, we proved that already backmost successful the 2010s,” Noodleman said. “Let maine instrumentality a elemental task, instrumentality tending, each it is is someone’s manus putting thing successful and retired of a machine. The constituent present is you tin ideate however galore low-hanging fruit, repetitive tasks determination are, similar instrumentality tending.”

Fady Saad, a wide spouse astatine early-stage robotics-focused Cybernetix Ventures, besides launched his steadfast anterior to the AI roar aft helium noticed helium was spending a batch of clip connecting early-stage robotics companies to sources of backing during his clip arsenic a co-founder astatine MassRobotics.

Falling hardware costs person besides driven capitalist involvement successful the sector, Saad said, noting that it’s cheaper to physique robots contiguous than 5 years ago. This allows companies to person a much viable way to standard and makes them much charismatic to imaginable task backers.

“The outgo of gathering robotics has been going dramatically down,” Saad said. “Advances successful sensor technology, compute, and batteries, each of that, it was the cleanable timing to commencement full-stack robotics solutions.”

Advancements successful AI aren’t hurting the manufacture either. While AI is being touted by galore arsenic the main crushed wherefore robotics are starting to spot an summation successful involvement — alongside an Elon Musk-driven fascination with humanoid robots — it isn’t the lone factor.

Saad added that portion AI and ample connection models tin beryllium adjuvant for grooming robots, these LLMs are chiefly trained connected online accusation whereas robots interact with the existent world.

There are companies gathering models based connected that real-life data; Nvidia conscionable released a new acceptable of satellite models for robot grooming successful August. But Saad predicted it volition instrumentality a spot longer to seizure and bid robots, particularly those that volition beryllium alongside people, connected satellite data.

Present day

Momentum successful the manufacture whitethorn beryllium starting to swell, but that doesn’t mean each startup has figured retired the champion attack yet. Nor are immoderate categories wrong robotics arsenic mature arsenic others.

Some of the archetypal fewer markets to follow robotics and automation, including manufacturing, warehousing, and construction, proceed to beryllium charismatic for robotics startup backers.

For Winterroth, Saad, and Noodleman, healthcare and surgical-related robots stay a compelling country to put successful too. Noodleman adds eldercare to that class arsenic well.

“In-home assistance is interesting, coming from maine having looked astatine concern robotics for 10 years,” Noodleman said. “Manufacturing and mining, burning labour shortages, aging populations, nary humans are disposable astatine immoderate price, adjacent imperfect robotics are amended than nothing.”

Saad added that vertically-focused robotics companies thin to person entree to much real-world and carnal information excessively than horizontal players.

One country that these VCs are not arsenic excited astir are humanoids oregon user — and particularly not consumer-focused humanoids.

Saad isn’t convinced that radical volition privation to person a robot successful their location anytime soon. He added that adjacent non-humanoid consumer-focused robotics companies person struggled to get consumers excited.

“The lone palmy user robot company, iRobot, failed to travel up with a 2nd act,” Saad said. “Pool cleaning robot, tract mower, mopping and floor-cleaning robot, nary of these worked retired for immoderate reason.”

While the manufacture is inactive years distant from commercialized occurrence of much intricate robotic models, similar humanoids, VCs are pouring much superior into the sector. Despite the information that this involvement is driving up the costs of deals, the surge successful involvement is simply a nett affirmative for the industry, Winterroth and Saad said, arsenic the imaginable lawsuit basal for robotics startups continues to grow.

“There are capable examples of palmy commercialized organizations, palmy robotics companies, that person go a invaluable commercialized organization,” Winterroth said. “Ten, 15 years ago, it was questionable whether oregon not determination was going to beryllium a ample and thriving marketplace for these types of solutions. Now, there’s a batch of lawsuit awareness.”