Ex-Cruise CEO's $2B robot startup

Good morning, robotics enthusiasts. Kyle Vogt, who co-founded Cruise and Twitch, is now racing ahead with The Bot Company—a robotics startup that just raised $150M, reaching a $2B valuation in less than a year since its inception.

The San Francisco-based company is tapping a market hungry for AI-powered robots with a “non-humanoid” bot for helping with household chores. But with no design yet on the table, can it scale up in time to compete with Amazon, Figure, and 1X?

In today’s robotics rundown:

• Ex-Cruise CEO’s robot startup valued at $2B

• Undersea bots to search for missing MH370

• Tesla to build ‘legions’ of robots

• 1X launches NEO Gamma’s home trials

• Quick hits on other robotics news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

THE BOT COMPANY

🦄 Ex-Cruise CEO’s robot startup valued at $2B

The Rundown: Former Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt’s new San Francisco-based robotics startup, The Bot Company, has reportedly raised $150M in funding at a $2B valuation—without even launching a product to date.

The details:

• Vogt founded the company last year alongside Paril Jain, who led Tesla’s AI team, and former Cruise software engineer Luke Holoubek.

• Sources who spoke to Reuters say the company is developing non-humanoid robots equipped with a base and grips to assist with household chores.

• The company plans to use advanced AI models, including large language models, to enable its robots to understand natural language commands.

• Vogt, who also co-founded Twitch, launched the startup five months after he resigned as CEO of the Cruise, the robotaxi startup acquired by GM.

Why it matters: The Bot Company is tapping the market for domestic automation, drawing strong investor backing from the outset. Yet with few design details revealed, investors seem to be betting solely on its potential—leaving open the question of whether it can keep pace with competitors like 1X, Amazon, and Figure.

OCEAN INFINITY

🚤 Undersea bots to search for missing MH370

The Rundown: Texas robotics company Ocean Infinity has been granted a permit to renew the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which is thought to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean more than a decade ago, killing all 239 people onboard.

The details:

• Ocean Infinity will deploy a fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles capable of operating at depths up to 6,000 meters for as long as 100 hours at a time.

• These vehicles are equipped with advanced sensors, including AquaPix sonar, which provides high-res imagery and 3D digital terrain maps of the seafloor.

• Multiple AUVs can be deployed simultaneously, allowing for efficient coverage of the 5,800-square-mile search area.

• Ocean Infinity's new state-of-the-art Armada 7806 offshore support vessel will serve as a base and can be operated remotely, requiring no onboard crew.

Why it matters: The Malaysian government will pay Ocean Infinity a fee of $70M if its 18‑month search locates the wreckage. This latest effort follows previous unsuccessful attempts—including a search that ended in 2018—though Ocean Infinity claims that its new technological advancements now position it for success.

TESLA

🤖 Tesla to build ‘legions’ of robots

The Rundown: At an emergency all-hands meeting last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the first Optimus humanoid has been completed at the new pilot production line at the Fremont Factory—with "legions" of robots expected soon.

The details:

• Musk’s ambitious production targets for Optimus include 5,000 units this year, with the capacity to produce up to 12,000 units if necessary.

• Looking ahead, the company plans to increase production to 50,000 units in 2026, with the possibility of using snap-on parts for customized use cases.

• He also mentioned the potential for Optimus to be used outside of Tesla-controlled environments by the second half of 2026.

• Musk predicted that Optimus would be the “biggest product of all time” and could be 10 times or even 20 times larger than any other product ever made.

Why it matters: Musk has said that Optimus has the potential to reach up to 10,000 different tasks in future updates and significantly increase Tesla’s profits by trillions of dollars. While competitors like Apptronik and Figure have a head start in real-world applications, none have publicly announced production goals to match Tesla’s.

1X

🧹 1X launches NEO Gamma’s home trials

The Rundown: Norwegian robotics startup 1X is set to launch early in-home trials of its NEO Gamma humanoid by the end of 2025, aiming to place the beige knit-suited bot in "a few hundred to a few thousand" homes.

The details:

• While NEO Gamma uses AI to walk and balance, it is not yet fully autonomous and will rely heavily on human teleoperators during these early trials.

• This “early adoption" program aims to gather data for developing autonomous capabilities and to teach the robot how to behave in real-world contexts.

• NEO Gamma, unveiled in February, is designed to perform various household tasks such as vacuuming, watering plants, and making coffee.

• The company is outspoken in saying its humanoid is still a “long way away from commercial scaling and deployment.”

Why it matters: 1X CEO Bernt Børnich says NEO Gamma needs to "live and learn among people" to advance its development, but collecting data from microphones and cameras in homes raises privacy flags. Still, 1X says moving NEO Gamma out of the lab and into homes is a crucial step to advancing the tech.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in robotics today

Global ad firm WPP is partnering with Nvidia, Boston Dynamics, and Cannon to explore robotic-assisted cinematography, releasing a video of Atlas filming on set. 

Mercedes-Benz is trialing a handful of Apptronik’s Apollo robots in two of its auto plants for tasks such as moving components to the production line and quality checks.

California-based Dexterity launched a massive new robot called Mech, touted as the “world’s first industrial superhumanoid,” which can lift 136 lb. with its arms.

BlueHalo announced that it has won a contract worth more than $30M to provide its advanced underwater robotic tech for U.S. Navy expeditionary and security missions. 

Lyft announced it is working with May Mobility to introduce autonomous vehicles on its platform, with the rollout set to begin in Atlanta this summer and Dallas next year.

Tokyo Electric Power Company is set to deploy robots to retrieve highly radioactive sandbags at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant this week.

Swedish AI startup IntuiCell created a robot dog named Luna that it says has a functional digital nervous system capable of learning and adapting like humans.

SwitchBot is integrating more than 45 of its products with Home Assistant in the coming months, including robot vacuums, smart shades, and its garage door opener.

Stockholm-based Rerun, a company developing physical AI for robotics, drones, and autonomous vehicles, has raised $17M, bringing its total funding to $20.2M.

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Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team