The archive · AI & Models · Technical decision · 2023–2026
Skild AI bets one foundation 'brain' runs any robot; $1.4B SoftBank round at $14B+
Two ex-CMU professors founded Skild AI to make one foundation model the brain of any robot; SoftBank-led rounds took its valuation past $14B by Jan 2026.
Skild AI
What the business is
Skild AI builds Skild Brain, a general-purpose AI foundation model that runs across robot types - arms, quadrupeds, humanoids - rather than building the robots themselves.
Starting capital：$300M Series A at $1.5B (Jul 2024, including Jeff Bezos, Lightspeed and Coatue); ~$500M SoftBank investment reported at a $4B valuation (Jan 2025); ~$1.4B Series C led by SoftBank with Nvidia, Macquarie, Bezos Expeditions, Samsung, LG, Schneider Electric and Salesforce Ventures at a $14B+ valuation (Jan 2026).
How it started
Deepak Pathak and Abhinav Gupta, professors who led robotics learning at Carnegie Mellon, founded Skild AI in 2023 on the thesis that robots had stalled for decades not on hardware but on missing general intelligence: unlike text and images, physical interaction has no internet-scale data corpus. The founders recruited engineers from Tesla, Nvidia and Meta, per 36Kr.
What happened
In July 2024 Skild raised a $300M Series A at a $1.5B valuation from investors including Jeff Bezos, Lightspeed and Coatue. TechCrunch reported in January 2025 that SoftBank was investing roughly $500M at a $4B valuation. In July 2025 Skild unveiled Skild Brain, saying the model runs on nearly any robot, includes built-in power limits, and improves with data from every robot running it, with LG CNS named as a client (Reuters). In January 2026 a ~$1.4B Series C led by SoftBank, with Nvidia, Macquarie, Bezos Expeditions, Samsung, LG, Schneider Electric and Salesforce Ventures, valued the company above $14B (36Kr).
How it ended up
Scaling with enterprise deployments in logistics and industrial settings; Skild sells the software brain, not robot hardware, and the cited sources report no revenue or product-price details.
Background
Skild AI was founded in 2023 by Deepak Pathak and Abhinav Gupta, Carnegie Mellon professors whose work spans AI and robotics, on a contrarian thesis: robots have failed to spread not because hardware is too weak but because they lack a general 'brain'. Unlike text and images, physical interaction has no internet-scale data corpus, so Skild set out to create one from simulation and human activity videos.
The company raised a $300M Series A at a $1.5B valuation in July 2024 from investors including Jeff Bezos, Lightspeed and Coatue. TechCrunch reported in January 2025 that SoftBank was investing roughly $500M at a $4B valuation. In July 2025 Skild unveiled Skild Brain, telling Reuters the foundation model runs on nearly any robot - from assembly-line machines to humanoids - trains on simulated episodes and human videos, then fine-tunes on data from every robot running the system; LG CNS was named as a client.
In January 2026 Skild announced a ~$1.4B Series C led by SoftBank with Nvidia, Macquarie Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Samsung, LG, Schneider Electric and Salesforce Ventures participating, valuing the company above $14B - roughly nine times its July 2024 valuation in 18 months, per 36Kr's report.
The strategic bet is the software layer: 'Any robot. Any task. One brain.' Skild does not build robot bodies, betting instead that whoever owns the general model earns a slice of every robot deployed, across arms, quadrupeds, humanoids and mobile platforms.
What has to be true
- Robotics data does not exist at internet scale, so Skild's bet was to synthesize it from human videos and simulation, then fine-tune with data from every customer robot.
- A model that runs on any body captures value across arms, quadrupeds and humanoids instead of betting on one hardware form factor that may not win.
- The founders' CMU research track record let Skild recruit from Tesla, Nvidia and Meta and raise from top-tier investors.
- Investors treated the software layer as the eventual bottleneck: Skild's valuation rose from $1.5B in July 2024 to above $14B in January 2026.
What can be applied
When an industry lacks data, invent the training regime first: Skild's human-video-plus-robot-feedback approach turned a software bet into the most-funded robot-brain company, valued above $14B.
Aftermath
As of 2026-01-29, Skild AI had announced a ~$1.4B Series C led by SoftBank at a valuation above $14B, with Nvidia, Macquarie Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Samsung, LG, Schneider Electric and Salesforce Ventures among the participants. Its Skild Brain model had been unveiled in July 2025 with LG CNS and unnamed logistics and industrial partners as clients, and the company continued hiring from robotics and AI leaders. The cited sources report no wind-down, acquisition or revenue figures.
Sources
- SoftBank to invest $500M in robotics startup Skild AI
- Amazon and SoftBank Group-backed Skild AI unveils general-purpose AI model for multi-purpose robots
- Skild AI, a Robotics Startup, Raises $1.4 Billion for General Foundation Model Development
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