Feb 11 (Reuters) - Humanoid robotics startup Apptronik

raised $520 million in a funding round backed by investors

including Google and Mercedes-Benz, the company said on

Wednesday, as it seeks to commercialize its robots for

industrial use.

The ​round valued the Austin, Texas-based company at about $5

billion, ‌a source familiar with the matter said. B Capital and

the Qatar Investment Authority also participated in ⁠the

so-called Series A extension, roughly a year after Apptronik

raised $415 million.

Apptronik plans ⁠to use the fresh capital to develop new

versions of ‌its Apollo robot, ‌ramp up production and expand its

workforce beyond its current headcount of more than 300

employees. It ​is also planning a robot training and ‌data

collection facility in Austin and an office in California.

Chief Executive Jeff Horden said the company expects more

deployments of humanoid ​robots in factories and warehouses this

year ​and next.

The ‌funding comes as companies race to develop human-like

robots for industrial work; Tesla and Nvidia-backed Figure AI

are trying to build and deploy ⁠humanoids at scale. Figure AI was

recently valued at $39 billion.

Apptronik is initially ⁠targeting manufacturing and logistics

customers and has commercial agreements with Mercedes-Benz and

GXO Logistics. Over the longer term, it is seeking to expand

into assisted care and home-use applications.

Its humanoid Apollo has both legs and wheels to navigate

industrial environments. ⁠Apptronik ‌says human-scale robots can

access existing workstations and shelving, potentially ‌replacing

some task-specific industrial machines over time.

The company is also deepening its partnership ⁠with Google

DeepMind, which co-develops the Gemini-based artificial

intelligence models for the Apollo platform. Apptronik provides

the hardware and real-world training data from its deployments,

Horden said.

Founded in 2016 as a spinout from the University of Texas,

Apptronik traces its origins to early work on NASA's Valkyrie

humanoid robot program.

Howard Morgan, a general partner at B Capital, said the

company ​has a competitive advantage in its robotic hand design

and has built a sizable commercial order pipeline.

"The valuation relative to its potential is more attractive

than ​some of its peers," Morgan ‌said in an interview.