Apptronik secures over $500M funding from Google and Mercedes

The American robotics startup Apptronik has secured $520 million in a new funding round, with support from investors including Google and Mercedes-Benz, according to Reuters. The company aims to accelerate the commercialization of humanoid robots for industrial applications. Other participants in the financing included B Capital and Qatar Investment Authority. According to a source familiar with the matter cited by Reuters, the Austin, Texas-based company is now valued at approximately $5 billion. Apptronik plans to use the capital to develop new versions of its Apollo robot, scale up production, and expand its team, which currently numbers over 300 employees. The company also intends to launch a robot training and data collection center in Austin and open an office in California. Apptronik's Apollo is a humanoid equipped with legs and wheels for navigating industrial environments and is designed to work at existing workstations, potentially replacing specialized industrial machinery. In the longer term, the company plans to expand into the assisted care and domestic applications markets