Apptronik
Austin-based humanoid-robotics company building the Apollo and Astro general-purpose robots for industrial and logistics work; grew out of a DARPA Robotics Challenge lineage and early NASA/DoD/NSF federal research awards, though its current commercial focus is manufacturing and warehouse automation rather than defense.
Apptronik is an Austin, Texas humanoid-robotics company founded in 2016 by Jeff Cardenas (CEO), Nicholas Paine (CTO), and UT Austin aerospace-engineering professor Luis Sentis, spun out of UT Austin's Human Centered Robotics Lab. Its origin traces to the DARPA Robotics Challenge: Sentis and Paine partnered with NASA Johnson Space Center in 2013 to build the Valkyrie humanoid robot, and the company later worked on U.S. Special Operations Command's TALOS exoskeleton ("Iron Man suit") program; it has since received nine federal research awards totaling $7.5M from NASA, DoD, and NSF. Its current commercial products are Apollo, a general-purpose humanoid robot piloted by Mercedes-Benz for auto assembly and GXO Logistics for warehouse work, and Astro, a wheeled multi-purpose humanoid used by Fortune 500 manufacturing/logistics customers — its present business is industrial/commercial automation, not defense. Apptronik bootstrapped 2016-2022, then raised seed funding from Capital Factory, Grit Ventures, and PerotJain (2022) and Terex (2023), followed by a $935M Series A across 2025-2026 (B Capital and Capital Factory co-leading, with Google, Mercedes-Benz, PEAK6, AT&T Ventures, John Deere, and the Qatar Investment Authority), taking cumulative funding to roughly $1B at a ~$5B valuation.
Overview
- Headquarters
- Austin, TX
- Founded
- 2016
- Employees
- Total funding
- Stage
- Status
- active
- Domains
- Website
- apptronik.com
Founders3
- FounderJeff CardenasCo-founder and CEO of Apptronik; discovered humanoid robotics while pursuing a master's in technology commercialization at UT Austin and co-founded the company in 2016.
- FounderNicholas PaineCo-founder and CTO of Apptronik; holds B.S./M.S./Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UT Austin and worked on the NASA-JSC DARPA Robotics Challenge team designing actuators for the Valkyrie robot.
- FounderLuis SentisCo-founder and scientific advisor of Apptronik; UT Austin aerospace-engineering professor and UT Austin's lead for the DARPA Robotics Challenge team that built the Valkyrie humanoid robot with NASA Johnson Space Center.
Cap table0
Approximate ownership by holder. Indexed holders link to their records.
| Holder | Instrument | Ownership |
|---|
Contracts0
No linked records yet.
Programs0
No linked records yet.
Frequently asked
- What does Apptronik do?
- Apptronik is an Austin, Texas humanoid-robotics company founded in 2016 by Jeff Cardenas (CEO), Nicholas Paine (CTO), and UT Austin aerospace-engineering professor Luis Sentis, spun out of UT Austin's Human Centered Robotics Lab. Its origin traces to the DARPA Robotics Challenge: Sentis and Paine partnered with NASA Johnson Space Center in 2013 to build the Valkyrie humanoid robot, and the company later worked on U.S. Special Operations Command's TALOS exoskeleton ("Iron Man suit") program; it has since received nine federal research awards totaling $7.5M from NASA, DoD, and NSF. Its current commercial products are Apollo, a general-purpose humanoid robot piloted by Mercedes-Benz for auto assembly and GXO Logistics for warehouse work, and Astro, a wheeled multi-purpose humanoid used by Fortune 500 manufacturing/logistics customers — its present business is industrial/commercial automation, not defense. Apptronik bootstrapped 2016-2022, then raised seed funding from Capital Factory, Grit Ventures, and PerotJain (2022) and Terex (2023), followed by a $935M Series A across 2025-2026 (B Capital and Capital Factory co-leading, with Google, Mercedes-Benz, PEAK6, AT&T Ventures, John Deere, and the Qatar Investment Authority), taking cumulative funding to roughly $1B at a ~$5B valuation.
- Where is Apptronik headquartered?
- Apptronik is headquartered in Austin, TX and was founded in 2016.
Sources & citations5
Each claim links to its underlying source. Confidence reflects how directly the source supports the claim.
- 1
Apptronik was founded in 2016 by Jeff Cardenas, Nicholas Paine, and Luis Sentis, grew out of the DARPA Robotics Challenge/NASA Valkyrie project, later worked on a Special Operations Command exoskeleton contract, and has received nine federal research awards totaling $7.5M from NASA, the Defense Department, and the National Science Foundation
Forbes: This Humanoid Robot Could Build Your Next MercedesVerified2024-08-09 - 2
Apptronik's $350M Series A was co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with Google also participating
The Robot Report: Apptronik raises $350 million to build humanoidsVerified2025-02-13 - 3
Apptronik raised $520M at a ~$5B valuation, bringing its Series A to $935M total, with Google, B Capital, Mercedes-Benz, PEAK6, AT&T Ventures, John Deere, and the Qatar Investment Authority participating
CNBC: Apptronik raises $520 million at $5 billion valuation for Apollo robotVerified2026-02-11 - 4
Apptronik was co-founded in 2016 by UT Austin alumni and faculty: Jeff Cardenas, Nicholas Paine, Bill Helmsing, Bill Welch, and associate professor Luis Sentis
The Daily Texan: UT alumni lead humanoid robotics company ApptronikVerified2018-09-14 - 5
Capital Factory made its first investment in Apptronik on June 23, 2022 in a $14.6M seed round, and returned as an investor in the January 2025 and March 2025 Series A rounds
Tracxn: Apptronik - Funding Rounds & List of InvestorsReported2026-08-11