NVIDIA co-invests, "American Yushu" Figure C round financing exceeds 1 billion USD, valuation has risen to 39 billion USD

The integration of artificial intelligence and robotics is attracting massive capital. Robotics startup Figure announced on Tuesday that it has secured over $1 billion in capital commitments in a new funding round, with a post-money valuation reaching $39 billion. This Series C funding round was led by Parkway Venture Capital and attracted participation from industry giants including chipmakers NVIDIA, Intel Capital, LG Technology Ventures, Salesforce, T-Mobile Ventures, and Qualcomm Ventures. This financing has resulted in an astonishing leap in valuation for the San Jose, California-based company. Just last year, Figure raised $675 million in a round supported by Microsoft and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, with a company valuation of $2.6 billion at that time. In less than a year, its valuation has increased by more than 14 times. This deal reflects the overall trend in the current venture capital landscape. According to a report from Pitchbook, driven by the ongoing AI boom, U.S. startup financing in the first half of 2025 is expected to grow by 75.6% year-on-year, potentially setting a record for the second-highest amount in history. Funds Will Be Used to Expand Production and Build AI Platforms Figure plans to use this new funding to accelerate the commercialization of its humanoid robots. The company's founder and CEO Brett Adcock stated that the funds will be used to scale the deployment of humanoid robots in home and commercial operations, while also building its infrastructure to accelerate training and simulation, and increasing investment in data collection. Adcock stated in a press release: “This milestone is crucial for unlocking the next phase of growth for humanoid robots, expanding our AI platform Helix, and BotQ manufacturing.” In addition to the aforementioned industry investors, this funding round also received support from other large investment institutions, including Brookfield Asset Management, Macquarie Capital, Align Ventures, and Tamarack Global, demonstrating the broad optimism in the capital market for this sector. Investor Enthusiasm Soars, Sector Heat Matches Large Models The explosive growth in Figure's valuation is a reflection of the rapidly rising interest in the humanoid robotics sector. Investors' views on this field have fundamentally shifted. PitchBook emerging technology analyst Ali Javaheri noted: “Investors are increasingly placing humanoid robots on the same level as foundational AI models or electric vehicles.” Javaheri further analyzed that the surge in venture capital interest in humanoid robots is the result of both structural demand and technological supply. On the demand side, factors include the aging global workforce and the pressure of industrial relocation brought about by geopolitical competition; on the supply side, it benefits from breakthrough advancements in AI software and hardware Currently, a competition surrounding the development of humanoid robots is unfolding in the global technology industry. In addition to emerging players like Figure, tech giants including NVIDIA, Meta Platforms, and Tesla are also competing to develop robots capable of handling repetitive and dangerous tasks to address the increasingly severe labor shortage issue