Robotics Startup Physical Intelligence Secures $400M, Aims to Revolutionize AI with Bezos and OpenAI Backing
1min read San Francisco-based robotics startup Physical Intelligence has confirmed a substantial financing round, raising $400 million and reaching a valuation of $2.4 billion. This investment round drew notable attention with financiers including Amazon's Jeff Bezos, OpenAI, Thrive Capital, and Lux Capital stepping on board. Other prominent supporters listed on the company's website include Khosla Ventures and Sequoia Capital.
The new valuation of Physical Intelligence marks a significant leap from its seed round in March, which reportedly involved $70 million with a valuation of $400 million. The company's workforce includes veterans from Tesla, Google DeepMind, and X.
According to their website, Physical Intelligence is dedicated to "bringing general artificial intelligence to the real world," aiming to empower robotics through the development of extensive AI models and algorithms. In a blog post, the startup explained its ongoing efforts over the past eight months to create a "general" AI model for robots, highlighting this as the first phase towards their ultimate goal of developing general AI, or AGI, which refers to AI technology that can match or surpass human intelligence across a broad range of tasks.
A few days prior, OpenAI introduced a search feature within its ChatGPT, enhancing its competitiveness against engines like Google, Microsoft’s Bing, and Perplexity. In the previous month, OpenAI completed its latest funding round with an impressive valuation of $157 billion.
In its blog, Physical Intelligence elaborated on a vision where one day, users can "simply ask a robot to perform any task they desire, akin to how large language models (LLMs) and chatbot assistants are used." Its case studies showcased how their technology can enable robots to undertake jobs ranging from doing laundry to organizing tables and assembling boxes.