US startup Formic raises $50 million to scale Physical AI
Formic is expanding from task-specific automation into general-purpose robotics, enabling a broader range of robots to perform increasingly complex tasks through a single platform that builds on the operational intelligence gained with each deployment.
Formic, a US-based commercialization platform for physical AI, has announced it has raised USD 50 million in growth capital. The financing includes a Series B led by Mercato Partners, with participation from Light Ray Ventures, Lightscape Partners, Citi, and other new and existing investors, as well as debt financing from S2G Investments, according to a press release.
Formic is expanding from task-specific automation into general-purpose robotics, enabling a broader range of robots to perform increasingly complex tasks across industries through a single platform that builds on the operational intelligence gained with each deployment.
The funding will accelerate that shift and strengthen Formic’s AI and robotics capabilities. It will also help Formic expand into new applications such as metal fabrication and deepen its work in aerospace, space, defense, medical, energy and the broader U.S. industrial base, the company said.
“The robotics industry has made extraordinary progress in what robots can do. But building a capable robot and making it productive in a real factory are two very different challenges,” said Saman Farid, founder and CEO of Formic. “We’ve spent five years building the commercialization platform that bridges that gap.”
Farid added that the company was extending that platform from task-specific automation to general-purpose robotics, bringing more robots, more intelligence and more capabilities into production without requiring manufacturers to build the infrastructure themselves.
“As robots get smarter, the bottleneck moves from the lab to the loading dock: deploying, servicing and financing robots in real plants,” said Ryan Sanders, Managing Director at Mercato Partners, who joins Formic’s Board of Directors. “Formic has built all three, and its customers stay and add robots. That’s the operating record you want underneath the next generation of physical AI.”
“Formic has built a multi-year operating record across a large, active fleet, with systems that keep producing year after year,” said Marisa Sweeney, Principal at S2G Investments. “That kind of foundation is what supports growth at scale.”
