The archive · Hardware & Devices · Product decision · 2024–2026
Holiday Robotics bets a wheeled FRIDAY humanoid earns in factories; ₩155B Series A
Sualab founder's second act: a wheeled, five-fingered humanoid doing factory work now — Korea's largest-ever Series A, ₩155B, pre-commercialization.
Holiday Robotics (홀리데이로보틱스)
What the business is
Holiday Robotics develops FRIDAY, a 176 cm, 115 kg wheeled humanoid for repetitive factory and logistics work, building the physical-AI software, dexterous hands, and tactile sensing in-house.
How it started
Founded in 2024 by Song Ki-young, who in 2013 had started Sualab, an industrial AI vision-inspection company, and sold it to US-based Cognex in 2019 for $195 million (about ₩230 billion). Song reassembled AI and robotics engineers around the idea that a humanoid can be economical at manufacturing sites, and within two years the company raised a ₩155B Series A.
What happened
Its robot FRIDAY is a wheeled humanoid — 176 cm tall, 115 kg, 64 degrees of freedom including head, arms, hands, waist, and wheels — designed to move quickly without falling and to handle varied tasks with five-fingered, touch-sensing hands. The July 2026 Series A brought existing investors Stonebridge Ventures, Atinum Investment, Intervest, and Springcamp together with new backers such as IMM Investment, KB Investment, SL Investment, and Bon Angels, plus Korea Development Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea. Funds are earmarked for production infrastructure and growing the R&D team past 100 people.
No ending yet — it is still running.
Background
Holiday Robotics, founded in 2024 by Song Ki-young, announced on July 13, 2026 that it had closed a ₩155 billion (about $105 million) Series A — the largest Series A in Korean startup history and the biggest single round ever raised by a Korean humanoid-robot company. Existing investors Stonebridge Ventures, Atinum Investment, Intervest, and Springcamp joined new backers including IMM Investment, KB Investment, SL Investment, and Bon Angels, with Korea Development Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea also participating.
The bet is that a wheeled humanoid can do real factory work before walking humanoids are ready. FRIDAY, the company's robot, stands 176 cm tall, weighs 115 kg, and has 64 degrees of freedom across head, arms, hands, waist, and wheels. It trades legs for wheels so it can move quickly without falling, and pairs dexterous five-fingered hands with tactile sensors — the combination the company believes can handle repetitive assembly and logistics tasks.
Holiday Robotics is running proof-of-concept trials with companies in automotive, semiconductor, and logistics, and plans to commercialize FRIDAY in the second half of 2026. The raise will go toward mass-production setup, with a goal of 100 units a year this year and capacity of 1,000 units a year by 2027, while R&D headcount expands beyond 100.
What has to be true
- Song had already sold Sualab to Cognex for $195 million in 2019, so investors were backing a founder with proven manufacturing-domain credibility, not a first-time hardware bet.
- The wheeled form factor targets tasks that exist today instead of waiting for walking humanoids and general-purpose robot AI to mature.
- PoCs with automotive, semiconductor, and logistics customers tied the raise to real factory demand rather than research-stage promise.
- The record size of the Series A signals that Korean investors are pricing humanoid commercialization and mass production, not just technology development.
What can be applied
Bet on the task, not the robot fantasy: a wheeled humanoid aimed at factory jobs no one can fill today drew record capital, because the need exists now, not after walking robots mature.
Aftermath
As of September 2026, Holiday Robotics is preparing to commercialize FRIDAY in the second half of the year, aiming for a 100-unit annual production system and expansion toward 1,000 units a year by 2027. It plans to use mass production to bring the price down toward about ₩100 million per robot, grow the R&D team beyond 100 people, and eventually move from manufacturing into service and home robots, with the stated long-term ambition of becoming one of the world's top ten robot companies.
Sources
- 155 Billion Won Flocks to Humanoids… Holiday Robotics Secures Largest Series A Investment in Korea
- 인간형 로봇 만드는 홀리데이로보틱스, 1,550억 원 투자 유치
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