This robotics start-up wants to raise $1B at $11B valuation
What's the story
San Francisco-based robotics start-up Physical Intelligence is in talks to raise around $1 billion in fresh funding. The round could value the tech company at more than $11 billion, Bloomberg has reported. If successful, this would effectively double the company's current valuation of around $5.6 billion in just four months.
Investment interest
Founders Fund, Lightspeed in talks
The funding round has attracted major investors such as Founders Fund and Lightspeed Venture Partners. They are in talks to invest alongside existing backers Thrive Capital and Lux Capital. However, the deal is still at an early stage and details could change, Bloomberg reported.
Company profile
ChatGPT for robots
TechCrunch visited Physical Intelligence's headquarters back in January, where co-founder Sergey Levine described the company's vision as, "Think of it like ChatGPT, but for robots." At that time, the firm had raised just over $1 billion and had a workforce of about 80 people. They are working on general-purpose AI models capable of powering robots to perform a range of tasks from folding laundry to peeling vegetables.
Commercialization outlook
Lachy Groom says there's no commercialization timeline
Co-founder Lachy Groom had told TechCrunch that the company has no set timeline for commercialization. This unusual stance doesn't seem to bother their investors. "There's no limit to how much money we can really put to work," Groom said, adding that "there's always more compute you can throw at the problem."