Apptronik
Apptronik builds AI-powered humanoid robots for logistics, manufacturing and other work in human-designed environments. Its Apollo 2 platform operates in bipedal and wheeled-base configurations, and Apptronik is using Robot Park sites with partners and customers to collect training data for real-world deployment.
Market context
Apollo is designed for deployment in logistics and manufacturing, targeting repetitive labor tasks with a human-compatible form factor and force-controlled interaction for safe operation alongside workers. Apollo
Facts
- Website: https://apptronik.com
- HQ: Austin, TX, United States
- Founded: 2016
- Segment: humanoid robotics
- Known funding rounds: 3
Investors
- B Capital - Participant - Vc - 2 funding events - repeat backer - first seen 2025-02-13 - latest 2026-02-11
- Google - Participant - Corporate / Cvc - 2 funding events - repeat backer - strategic/corporate - first seen 2025-02-13 - latest 2026-02-11
- Mercedes-Benz - Participant - Unknown - 2 funding events - repeat backer - first seen 2025-02-13 - latest 2026-02-11
- Capital Factory - Participant - Vc - 2 funding events - repeat backer - first seen 2022-06-14 - latest 2025-02-13
- AT&T Ventures - Participant - Vc - 1 funding event - first seen 2026-02-11
- John Deere - Participant - Angel / Individual - 1 funding event - first seen 2026-02-11
- PEAK6 - Participant - Unknown - 1 funding event - first seen 2026-02-11
- Qatar Investment Authority - Participant - Unknown - 1 funding event - first seen 2026-02-11
- ARK Invest - Participant - Angel / Individual - 1 funding event - first seen 2025-02-13
- Helium-3 - Participant - Unknown - 1 funding event - first seen 2025-02-13
- Japan Post Capital - Participant - Vc - 1 funding event - first seen 2025-02-13
- Korea Investment Partners - Participant - Vc - 1 funding event - first seen 2025-02-13
- Magnetar - Participant - Unknown - 1 funding event - first seen 2025-02-13
- RyderVentures - Participant - Vc - 1 funding event - first seen 2025-02-13
- Grit Ventures - Participant - Vc - 1 funding event - first seen 2022-06-14
- Perot Jain - Participant - Angel / Individual - 1 funding event - first seen 2022-06-14
Commercial humanoid robot company
Apptronik develops Apollo, a commercial humanoid robot for warehouses, manufacturing plants and other labour-constrained environments.
- Target environment: Warehouses, manufacturing plants, logistics sites, retail operations, industrial facilities and future healthcare settings.
- Deployment model: Humanoid robot development and enterprise deployment through Apollo systems, manufacturing partners and customer pilots.
- Customer context: Manufacturers, logistics operators, automotive companies, retail operators and enterprise customers evaluating humanoid labour.
- Workflow context: Case handling, downstacking, trailer unloading, line replenishment, machine tending, sortation and factory material movement.
- Commercial maturity: Scaling commercial humanoid company with major funding and enterprise partnerships tied to Apollo production and deployment.
- Market position: Humanoid robot builder pursuing mass-manufacturable robots for industrial and logistics work.
- Adoption constraints: Adoption depends on task reliability, production scale, safety, support, customer workflow integration and proof beyond pilot deployments.
- Adjacent context: Adjacent context includes commercial humanoids, logistics robots, factory humanoids and embodied AI for labour automation.
- Source confidence: high
Events
- 2026-06-30 - Product Launch - Apptronik opens expanded Robot Park and unveils Apollo 2 - The company said the Austin Robot Park is nearly 90,000 square feet. Apollo 2 is operating in bipedal and wheeled configurations across Robot Park locations and customer or partner sites. The announcement links Apollo 2 data collection to Apptronik work with…
- 2026-05-30 - Research Publication - Too Much of a Good Thing: When sim2real Efforts Impede Policy Learning (And What to Do About It) - While sim2real efforts are necessary for effective policy transfer to hardware, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. We argue that sim2real efforts have led to misaligned incentives with policy learning, resulting in simulato… The work is explic…
- 2026-02-11 - Funding - Apptronik raises $520M Series A-X extension for Apollo humanoid production - Apptronik announced a $520 million Series A-X extension with backing from existing and new investors. The extension followed Apptronik's earlier Series A financing rather than replacing the prior rounds as one combined raise. The new capital was tied to Apoll…
- 2025-10-29 - Award - Apptronik Receives 2025 A-LIST Manufacturing Excellence Award - Apptronik was honored with the Manufacturing Excellence Award at the 2025 A-LIST Awards. The A-LIST Awards celebrate startups contributing to Austin's economic success. The event highlighted companies across sectors including life sciences, defense, fintech,…
- 2025-06-24 - Company Formation - Apptronik launches Elevate Robotics for superhuman industrial automation - Apptronik launched Elevate Robotics, a subsidiary focused on superhuman industrial automation. Elevate Robotics will operate independently under CEO Paul Hvass, targeting heavy-duty tasks across various sectors.
- 2025-06-16 - Research Publication - Virginia Tech thesis studies real-world reinforcement learning deployment on Apptronik Apollo - The Virginia Tech master's thesis is titled Deploying Reinforcement Learning in the Real World: A Case Study on Apptronik Apollo. The repository record identifies the work as a humanoid-robotics and reinforcement-learning thesis with Apptronik Apollo as the c…
- 2025-06-10 - Award - Apptronik named to CNBC's 2025 Disruptor 50 list - • Apptronik was named #33 on CNBC's 2025 Disruptor 50 list, recognizing the world's most innovative and fast-growing private companies. • The list highlights companies transforming industries and the economy through innovation. • This marks Apptronik's first…
- 2025-02-25 - Partnership - Apptronik and Jabil partner to scale Apollo humanoid production - Apptronik and Jabil announced a collaboration to scale production of Apollo humanoid robots. Jabil was named worldwide manufacturing partner for Apollo and also planned to deploy Apollo in manufacturing operations. The partnership added supply-chain and contr…
- 2025-02-13 - Funding - Apptronik raises $350M Series A to scale Apollo humanoid production - Apptronik raised a $350 million Series A co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with participation from Google. The round was framed around scaling production of Apollo and meeting demand for AI-powered humanoid robots. The financing gave Apptronik one of t…
- 2024-12-26 - Deployment - Apptronik pilots Apollo robot for Amplifier's holiday order fulfillment - Apollo sorts orders into outbound shipping containers, showcasing advanced perception and dexterous handling capabilities. This successful pilot provides Apollo with valuable real-world experience in a leading third-party logistics facility.
- 2024-06-20 - Partnership - GXO and Apptronik launch multi-phase humanoid robotics pilot program - GXO announced a multi-phase R&D initiative with Apptronik to test Apollo humanoids in logistics operations. The program targeted labor-intensive warehouse tasks where humanoid robots could improve safety and operational efficiency. The partnership added a maj…
- 2024-03-15 - Partnership - Apptronik and Mercedes-Benz pilot Apollo humanoids in manufacturing facilities - Apptronik and Mercedes-Benz entered a commercial agreement to pilot Apollo humanoid robots in Mercedes manufacturing facilities. The pilot focused on factory logistics and physically repetitive work such as moving parts to the production line. The agreement b…
- 2023-08-23 - Product Launch - Apptronik unveils Apollo humanoid robot for industrial work - Apptronik unveiled Apollo, an all-electric humanoid robot designed for industrial and logistics tasks alongside people. The company positioned Apollo as a mass-manufacturable humanoid platform built from experience across more than 10 prior robots. Apollo lau…
- 2022-11-02 - Product Launch - PSYONIC releases Ability Hand for research users - PSYONIC announced the Ability Hand was being released for robotics researchers worldwide. The company said the hand''s API enabled torque, velocity, and position control of six brushless DC motors plus streaming of encoder and touch-sensor values. PSYONIC ide…
- 2022-09-20 - Partnership - Apptronik partners with NASA to accelerate Apollo humanoid robot commercialization - Apptronik announced a NASA partnership to accelerate commercialization of Apollo, its general-purpose humanoid robot. The partnership built on Apptronik founders and engineers working on NASA humanoid systems including Valkyrie. Apollo was framed for logistic…
- 2022-06-14 - Funding - Apptronik secures $14.6M seed round to accelerate general-purpose robot commercialization - Apptronik secured $14.6 million in seed funding to accelerate commercialization of general-purpose robots. The round supported development of robots built to work in human environments rather than isolated industrial cells. The funding helped bridge Apptronik…
- 2016-01-01 - Company Formation - Apptronik founded as University of Texas spinout building humanoid robotics systems - Originates from the University of Texas Human Centered Robotics Lab Early work includes NASA Valkyrie collaboration and humanoid system development
Team
- Jeff Cardenas - Co-founder, CEO
- Nicholas Paine - Co-Founder and CTO
Supply chain relationships
- Jabil - Partner - Apptronik and Jabil collaborate to scale production of Apollo humanoid robots and deploy them in manufacturing operations.
Relationships
- NASA - Partner - Apptronik partnered with NASA on general-purpose humanoid robot development for terrestrial and space applications.
- Mercedes-Benz Group - Customer - Mercedes-Benz entered a commercial agreement with Apptronik to pilot Apollo humanoid robots in manufacturing facilities.
- Google DeepMind - Partner - Apptronik partnered with Google DeepMind Robotics to accelerate development of AI-powered humanoid robots.
- PSYONIC - End Effector Supplier - PSYONIC named Apptronik among early research users and buyers for the Ability Hand API.
- Google DeepMind - Gemini Robotics Collaboration - Google DeepMind Gemini Robotics; public blog positions Apptronik among partners in the model program.
- Google DeepMind - Research Partner - Apptronik works with Google DeepMind on Apollo 2 data collection for Gemini Robotics model development.
Context tags
- Pilot deployments - Commercial Stage - Commercial maturity as announced pilots and partnership trials
- Dexterous manipulation - Capability - Hand and arm manipulation capability disclosed
- Humanoid industrial builder - Peer Group - Core peer group: Apollo humanoid for industrial work
- Industrial task execution - Workflow - Apollo targeting industrial manufacturing workflows
- Warehouse material handling - Workflow - Material handling relevant to Apollo industrial positioning
- Whole-body control - Capability - NASA Valkyrie heritage suggests whole-body control capability
- Robot OEM - Stack Layer - Builds complete Apollo humanoid robot system
- Bipedal locomotion - Capability - Apollo demonstrated bipedal walking and mobility
- Factories - Customer Environment - Positioned for manufacturing and industrial environments
- Warehouses - Customer Environment - Logistics and material handling environments
Customers and deployments
- Named Pilot Site - 1 named pilot site - 2025-02-25 - Jabil - electronics manufacturing - Jabil and Apptronik said newly manufactured Apollo humanoid robots would use Jabil factory environments for validation testing and…
- Named Pilot Sites - 1 named pilot site - 2024-03-15 - Mercedes-Benz - automotive manufacturing logistics - Apptronik announced a commercial agreement with Mercedes-Benz to pilot Apollo humanoid robots in Mercedes-Benz m…
Articles
- 2026-02-11 - Apptronik raises $520M to scale Apollo humanoid production - Apptronik’s Series A-X extension brings its total Series A to more than $935M, with new capital aimed at Apollo production, commercial deployment…
Apptronik canonical Korthos profile