Humanoid Becomes Europe's First Humanoid Robotics Unicorn with $152M Series A

Humanoid, a London-based startup, raised $152 million in Series A funding at a $1.35 billion post-money valuation, becoming Europe’s first company dedicated exclusively to humanoid robots to achieve unicorn status. Prime Movers Lab led the round, with participation from Schaeffler, Bosch, Fubon Financial Venture Capital, and Aglaé Ventures.

The two-year-old company has raised $270 million to date. Its HMND 01 robot uses wheels rather than legs, a design that speeds up European safety certification and allows earlier deployment in factories.

Industrial Partners and Production Plans

Schaeffler has placed a 1,000-unit order for the HMND 01, and Bosch has committed to manufacturing capacity for up to 100,000 units over five years. Because the investors are also customers, Humanoid gets a direct route to commercial production, avoiding expensive competition for talent in Silicon Valley.

The company’s KinetIQ AI platform, a four-layer system for coordinating robot clusters, manages fleets of HMND 01 units across logistics, manufacturing, and retail. Beta tests are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter.

Design Trade-offs and Market Positioning

The wheeled design avoids the engineering challenges of walking while keeping the height and dexterity needed for factory tasks. In Europe, approval for wheeled industrial robots is faster than for legged ones, which helps Humanoid get to market sooner. Founder Artem Sokolov started the company about 26 months ago, and it reached a $1.35 billion valuation without having shipped a commercial unit.

As Europe’s first humanoid robotics unicorn, Humanoid must prove its wheeled platform works reliably in many industrial settings. The upcoming beta tests will be an early test of that.

Why this matters

Humanoid’s rapid ascent shows that investors see a path to commercial returns in humanoid robotics through pragmatic design and deep industrial ties, rather than pursuing the most technically ambitious bipedal systems. The involvement of major manufacturers as both investors and customers creates a go-to-market model that other European robotics startups may follow, one built on industrial validation rather than venture-funded speculation.

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Researched and cross-referenced against primary sources by the Bytevyte editorial team.