Tesla Optimus Rival? Jeff Bezos, Microsoft And Nvidia Join Forces To Fund Humanoid Robot Startup

Jeff Bezos and big tech giants, Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) are investing in a humanoid robot startup, Figure AI Inc.

What Happened: Figure AI is raising approximately $675 million in a funding round that values the company at around $2 billion before the investment, reported Bloomberg.

Bezos, through his firm Explore Investments LLC, has committed $100 million. Microsoft is investing $95 million, while Nvidia and an Amazon.com Inc.-affiliated (NASDAQ:AMZN) fund are each providing $50 million.

Figure AI is developing a robot, Figure 01, that resembles and moves like a human. The company aims to use its technology to perform hazardous tasks unsuitable for humans and mitigate labor shortages.

Other tech companies, including Intel Corp.’s (NASDAQ:INTC) venture capital arm and LG Innotek, are investing $25 million and $8.5 million, respectively.

Samsung’s investment group committed $5 million, while venture firms Parkway Venture Capital and Align Ventures are investing $100 million and $90 million, respectively.

OpenAI, which once considered acquiring Figure, is investing $5 million. The $675 million raised is a significant increase over the $500 million initially sought by Figure. The company’s valuation of approximately $2 billion does not account for the capital being raised.