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FieldAI's valuation quadruples to $2 billion

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Startup focuses on monitoring tasks in dirty, dull,

dangerous

environments

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Software-centric approach allows for more deployment, data

collection

By Krystal Hu

Aug 20 (Reuters) - FieldAI, which develops systems for

robots to operate safely in industrial environments, has raised

$314 million in a new funding round, quadrupling its valuation,

sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The Irvine, California-based startup is now valued at $2

billion, up from $500 million in a round last year, they added.

FieldAI said it has raised $405 million over two funding

rounds to scale its artificial intelligence platform but did not

break out its latest financing. It added that backers include

Khosla Ventures, Nvidia's ( NVDA ) NVentures, Bezos Expeditions, Canaan

Partners and Intel Capital.

The startup, founded in 2023, has gained attention as it

focuses on software that can be installed on a wide range of

hardware, allowing it and its clients to use the most

cost-effective robots which accelerates deployment. That

contrasts with vertically integrated companies that build their

hardware and software, such as Figure AI.

FieldAI's current focus is on enabling robots to perform

monitoring and surveying tasks in "dirty, dull, dangerous"

environments, with a long-term goal of expanding into more

complex, action-based capabilities.

CEO Ali Agha, a former robotics technologist at NASA, said

in an interview that the financing will help the company expand

its team from about 30 people at the end of 2024 to nearly 100

to support multi-million-dollar contracts in the U.S., Europe

and Asia.

He added that FieldAI's technology differentiates itself

from other AI models because it integrates physics principles to

manage risk in a changing environment, allowing robots to

operate more safely without needing pre-mapped environments.

"In robotics, there are consequences to actions, so managing

that risk is the fundamental gap today," Agha said.

Kanu Gulati, a partner at Khosla Ventures, said FieldAI was

attractive because one of the robotics industry's main

bottlenecks to further development was the lack of real world

data.

"The bigger story for me is getting more robots deployed

that are collecting more data, and then they can be in the pole

position to win," she said.

Global funding in robotics surged to $18.6 billion in 2024,

a 116% increase from the previous year, according to a report by

F-Prime Capital.