Robot AI startup Physical Intelligence raises $400 mln from Bezos, OpenAI

(Reuters) - Physical Intelligence, a startup that is developing foundational software for robots, said on Monday it has raised $400 million in early-stage funding from Amazon's Jeff Bezos, OpenAI, venture capital firms Thrive Capital and Lux Capital.

The new funds were raised at a $2 billion valuation, PitchBook data showed.

Physical Intelligence is seeking to make software that would work on any robot, eliminating the need to develop software for each specific task.

The largest tech companies — Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon, and Nvidia — are investing billions in adopting AI. Funding of AI and cloud companies in the U.S., Europe, and Israel is estimated to hit $79.2 billion by the end of 2024, according to venture capital firm Accel.

Multiple startups are foraying into the robotic AI space, including Vicarious, which was acquired by Alphabet-owned Intrinsic in 2022, Universal Robots, Seegrid, and Covariant.

Elon Musk earlier said that there will be at least 10 billion humanoid robots priced between $20,000 and $25,000 by 2040. Tesla also showed the latest version of its Optimus humanoid robot at the Robotaxi unveiling event.

Last week, Physical Intelligence published a paper, that showed how its software, called π0, or pi-zero, enabled robots to fold laundry, bag groceries, and take toast out of a toaster.