Apptronik Secures $53M in Extended Series A, Backed by Mercedes-Benz

Apptronik, an AI-powered humanoid robotics startup based in the US, announced on Tuesday that it has raised an additional $53 million in its Series A round. 

This brings Apptronik’s total Series A funding to $403 million, adding to the previously announced $350 million, led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with participation from Google. 

New investors include Mercedes-Benz, Japan Post Capital, ARK Invest, Helium-3, Magnetar, RyderVentures, and a syndicate led by Korea Investment Partners.

The funding will support the production and deployment of Apptronik’s AI-powered humanoid robot, Apollo, across industries such as automotive, electronics manufacturing, logistics, and consumer packaged goods. 

Joerg Burzer, member of the board of management at Mercedes-Benz Group AG said, “Our work with Apptronik has given us a front-row seat to the incredible pace of progress in humanoid robotics and AI, and the transformative potential these technologies hold for modern manufacturing.”

Mercedes-Benz is using Apollo robots in its manufacturing process by employing a method, ‘teleoperation’, where the robots are initially controlled remotely by humans to learn specific tasks. 

Currently, the robots are being tested at Mercedes-Benz’s Digital Factory Campus in Marienfelde, Berlin, and in Kecskemet, Hungary, with plans to expand their deployment to additional sites, as announced by Burzer during a recent roundtable discussion in Berlin.

Apptronik aims to create a future where humanoid robots collaborate seamlessly with humans, initially in logistics and manufacturing, with future applications in healthcare and elder care. This investment follows a year of record growth for Apptronik, including the strategic partnership with Google DeepMind’s robotics team.

This month, Google Deepmind also introduced two new AI models, Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER, which have been designed to enhance robotic capabilities in the physical world.

For this, the giant had expressed partnering further with Apptronik to develop the next generation of humanoid robots using these models. This will open the giant to more partnerships in the future, like those with testers including Agile Robots, Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics and Enchanted Tools.

In February this year, Apptronik announced a partnership with Jabil, a global leader in engineering and manufacturing, to build and integrate Apollo humanoid robots into Jabil’s manufacturing operations. 

This partnership leveraged Apollo robots on the production lines that create them, marking progress towards robots constructing robots. The company had announced this in a post on X, saying it is “paving the way for Apollo to build Apollo.”