New Horizons in Robotics: Figure Secures $675M in Funding for Humanoid Robots

In a groundbreaking development, the robotics company Figure announced a significant investment of $675 million in early-stage funding from prominent investors, including Nvidia, Microsoft, and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com. This investment places Figure at a valuation of $2.6 billion. The company, based in Sunnyvale, California, has also entered into a partnership with OpenAI to develop generative artificial intelligence for its humanoid robots.

The recent introduction of ChatGPT by OpenAI has sparked a surge of interest in artificial intelligence, prompting companies to invest millions of dollars in leveraging this trend. Among the other entities involved in this round of funding are the OpenAI Startup Fund, Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Parkway Venture Capital, Intel Capital, Align Ventures, and ARK Invest.

Figure aims to utilize the capital raised to expedite commercial deployments. The company will leverage the infrastructure, training, and cloud storage of Microsoft Azure in the field of artificial intelligence.

Just last month, Figure signed a partnership agreement with BMW Manufacturing to introduce its humanoid robots into the automotive manufacturer’s facility in the United States.

It is worth noting that while venture funds were generously allocated to certain AI startups last year, the private financing environment remained subdued. Data from PitchBook reveals that $170.6 billion was invested in venture capital transactions in the United States last year, marking a decrease of nearly 30% compared to the previous year.

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