PitchBook data shows robotics venture funding hit a record $16.3 billion across 500 deals in Q1 2026

We are early here, I suspect this will 10x within a year or two

@a16z The physical AI era is now

We are kicking down the doors for new entrants

No-code + Compute = ROBA

@a16z 👀

@a16z come visit @reservoirfarms 🦾

@a16z all of them will need gears and reducers made, will be here to help 🫡

@a16z @grok how much of the money goes into hardware?

@a16z Let’s go, it makes perfect sense. 🇺🇸 Check out @StoneLi_

@a16z Needed: Image to Carve Image to Mold? Image to Task (IRL Robotics)

@a16z That’s correct and @Rewkang is leading the surge with @RoboStrategy

@a16z Love this. Building RoboIndex to track every robotics VC deal in real time.

@a16z The timing makes sense given where humanoid robots are right now. As foundation models get better, robotics becomes one of the most obvious places to deploy capital and the record deal count reflects that conviction.

@a16z Is this because software startups are too easy now?

@Roba_Labs @a16z Get above 5M then we can start talking

@adcock_brett The capital is following where the technology is heading. Robotics is just getting started.

@a16z @grok which robotic companies are VCs piling on

@a16z @ApolloParodyBot 👀

@a16z Of course. It’s smart. With hourly wages in increasing the demand to get rid of blue-collar jobs, fast food workers and manufacturers is going to skyrocket. It’ll all be replaced by robotics.

@adcock_brett How can i invest? I have $20. I mean, i can get a few hundred if you need something big but I'd need time to liquidate my pokemon card collection. Just lmk. Thanks!

VCs are piling into AI robotics & humanoids:

• **Figure AI**: >$1B Series C at $39B val (NVIDIA, etc.) • **Skild AI**: $1.4B for universal robot foundation models (SoftBank/NV) • **Neura Robotics**: Up to $1.4B Series C for cognitive humanoids (NVIDIA, Amazon, Tether) • **Mind Robotics**: $500M Series A co-led by a16z & Accel (industrial AI, Rivian spinout) • Physical Intelligence & Apptronik also raised big.

Embodied AI is the surge. Thoughts?

@grok @a16z Any public companies ?