Apptronik

Snapshot

• What it is

  Detail

  Makes Apollo, a general-purpose humanoid robot, starting in manufacturing and logistics; it plans retail, healthcare and eventually the home^[1]

  As of

  Feb 2026

• Founded

  Detail

  2016, at the University of Texas at Austin's Human Centered Robotics Lab^[2]

  As of

  Feb 2025

• Headquarters

  Detail

  Austin, Texas^[2]

  As of

  Feb 2025

• Facilities

  Detail

  Robot Park, its data collection and training facility in Austin, expanded to nearly 90,000 sq ft; more Robot Parks run at customer and partner sites, including Google DeepMind, Mercedes-Benz and GXO^[3]Self-reported

  As of

  Jun 2026

• Leadership

  Detail

  Jeff Cardenas, co-founder and CEO^[1]Full leadership

  As of

  Feb 2026

• Employees

  Detail

  More than 350 (Jun 2026); over 150 in Mar 2025^[3]Self-reported

  As of

  Jun 2026

• Heritage

  Detail

  Apollo draws on nearly a decade of work and 15 previous robots, including NASA's Valkyrie; Apptronik says it joined forces with NASA on humanoid robotics in 2022^[2]Self-reported

  As of

  Feb 2025

• Subsidiary

  Detail

  Elevate Robotics Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary created in Jun 2025 to automate heavy-duty industrial work outside the humanoid form; it operates independently, led by CEO Paul Hvass, previously a co-founder of Plus One Robotics^[4]

  As of

  Jun 2025

Leadership

• CEO

  Person and background

  Jeff Cardenas, co-founder and CEO^[1]

  As of

  Feb 2026

• Leadership

  Person and background

  Barry Phillips, Chief Commercial Officer; Daniel Chu, Chief Product Officer from Apr 2026, previously CPO at Waymo and at 23andMe; Kevin Garell, SVP of Services & Support, who previously led Global Services & Support at Boston Dynamics^[5]

  As of

  Apr 2026

Scale and customers

• Google DeepMind

  Detail

  Google DeepMind: a strategic partnership (Dec 2024); data from Apollo 2 trains Gemini Robotics, Google DeepMind's AI models for robots (Jun 2026)^[3]

  As of

  Jun 2026

• Mercedes-Benz

  Detail

  Mercedes-Benz: a commercial agreement (Mar 2024) to pilot Apollo in its manufacturing; Mercedes-Benz says it is testing Apollo in intralogistics (bringing parts to the line) and initial quality checks, and is working toward autonomous operation at its Digital Factory Campus in Berlin-Marienfelde (Mar 2025)^[6]

  As of

  Mar 2025

• Jabil (manufacturing)

  Detail

  Jabil: Apollo's worldwide manufacturing partner; it also pilots Apollo in its own plants on inspection, sorting, kitting, lineside delivery, fixture placement and sub-assembly (Feb 2025); no volumes or dates published^[7]

  As of

  Feb 2025

• GXO Logistics

  Detail

  GXO Logistics: an early-stage proof-of-concept, a multi-phase R&D program evaluating Apollo in a lab before a U.S. distribution center (Jun 2024)^[8]

  As of

  Jun 2024

• NVIDIA

  Detail

  NVIDIA: a collaboration (Mar 2024) to integrate Apollo with NVIDIA's Project GR00T robot-learning model; Apollo computes on NVIDIA Jetson modules^[9]

  As of

  Mar 2024

Funding

• Early round

  Detail

  $28M before the Series A^[2]

  As of

  Feb 2025

• Series A

  Detail

  $350M (Feb 2025), co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with Google^[2]

  As of

  Feb 2025

• Series A, additional close

  Detail

  $53M more (Mar 2025), bringing the Series A to $403M, from Mercedes-Benz, Japan Post Capital, ARK Invest, Helium-3, Magnetar, RyderVentures (Ryder System's venture arm), a syndicate led by Korea Investment Partners and others^[10]

  As of

  Mar 2025

• Mercedes-Benz stake

  Detail

  Mercedes-Benz calls its stake "a low double-digit-million-euro investment" (Mar 2025)^[6]

  As of

  Mar 2025

• Series A-X extension

  Detail

  $520M Series A-X extension (Feb 2026) from existing investors B Capital, Google, Mercedes-Benz and PEAK6 and new investors AT&T Ventures, John Deere and Qatar Investment Authority; no lead named. Apptronik's release puts the initial Series A at $415M (its Mar 2025 release said $403M), the Series A at more than $935M and total capital raised at nearly $1B^[1]

  As of

  Feb 2026

• Valuation

  Detail

  Not published; Apptronik says the extension opened at 3x the Series A valuation (Feb 2026)^[1]Self-reported

  As of

  Feb 2026

• Valuation (reported)

  Detail

  More than $5.5B after the extension, about three times the initial Series A (reported by Bloomberg, Feb 2026)^[11]

  As of

  Feb 2026

• AT&T Ventures

  Round

  Series A-X extension (Feb 2026)^[1]

  Date

  Feb 2026

• John Deere

  Round

  Series A-X extension (Feb 2026)^[1]

  Date

  Feb 2026

• PEAK6

  Round

  Series A-X extension, named as an existing investor (Feb 2026)^[1]

  Date

  Feb 2026

• Qatar Investment Authority

  Round

  Series A-X extension (Feb 2026)^[1]

  Date

  Feb 2026

• ARK Invest

  Round

  Series A, additional close (Mar 2025)^[10]

  Date

  Mar 2025

• Helium-3

  Round

  Series A, additional close (Mar 2025)^[10]

  Date

  Mar 2025

• Japan Post Capital

  Round

  Series A, additional close (Mar 2025)^[10]

  Date

  Mar 2025

• Korea Investment Partners

  Round

  Led a syndicate in the Series A additional close (Mar 2025)^[10]

  Date

  Mar 2025

• Magnetar

  Round

  Series A, additional close (Mar 2025)^[10]

  Date

  Mar 2025

• Mercedes-Benz

  Round

  Series A, additional close (Mar 2025); in the Series A-X (Feb 2026)^[10]

  Date

  Mar 2025

• RyderVentures

  Round

  Series A, additional close, as Ryder System's venture arm (Mar 2025)^[10]

  Date

  Mar 2025

• B Capital

  Round

  Co-led the Series A (Feb 2025); in the Series A-X (Feb 2026)^[2]

  Date

  Feb 2025

• Capital Factory

  Round

  Co-led the Series A (Feb 2025)^[2]

  Date

  Feb 2025

• Google

  Round

  Series A (Feb 2025); in the Series A-X (Feb 2026)^[2]

  Date

  Feb 2025

Products and models

• Applications

  Detail

  Priority verticals: automotive, electronics manufacturing, third-party logistics, beverage bottling and fulfillment, and consumer packaged goods^[10]

  As of

  Mar 2025

• Apollo 2

  Detail

  Apollo 2, the current platform, in bipedal and wheeled-base configurations; the wheeled base is designed to conform with existing safety standards for industrial mobile robots. Fleets collect training data at Robot Park and at customer and partner sites; no commercial availability date published^[3]Self-reported

  As of

  Jun 2026

• Apollo 2 units (CEO)

  Detail

  Undisclosed: "We haven't released the specific numbers of the Apollo 2s, but lots of robots" (CEO, Jun 2026)^[12]Self-reported

  As of

  Jun 2026

• Apollo 3

  Detail

  Apollo 3, which Apptronik calls its next-generation commercial product, with no date; the CEO says it "will be a product", "much more focused on BOM cost", where Apollo 2 is a prototype for pilots and data collection (Jun 2026)^[12]Self-reported

  As of

  Jun 2026

Relationships

Recent moves

• Jun 30, 2026

  Move

  Opened the expanded Robot Park in Austin and presented Apollo 2^[3]

• Apr 28, 2026

  Move

  Hired Daniel Chu, formerly of Waymo, as Chief Product Officer^[5]

• Feb 11, 2026

  Move

  Raised a $520M Series A-X extension; the Series A passed $935M^[1]

• Jun 24, 2025

  Move

  Created Elevate Robotics, a subsidiary for heavy-duty industrial automation^[4]

• Mar 18, 2025

  Move

  Closed $53M more, bringing the Series A to $403M; Mercedes-Benz invested^[10]

• Feb 25, 2025

  Move

  Jabil to build Apollo and pilot it in its own plants^[7]

• Feb 13, 2025

  Move

  Raised a $350M Series A co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with Google^[2]

• Dec 19, 2024

  Move

  Strategic partnership with the Google DeepMind robotics team^[13]

• Jun 20, 2024

  Move

  GXO announced a multi-phase R&D initiative with Apptronik^[8]

• Mar 18, 2024

  Move

  Announced a collaboration with NVIDIA on Project GR00T^[9]

• Mar 15, 2024

  Move

  Commercial agreement with Mercedes-Benz to pilot Apollo^[14]

• Aug 23, 2023

  Move

  Unveiled Apollo^[15]

• 2016

  Move

  Founded at the University of Texas at Austin's Human Centered Robotics Lab^[2]

Sources

1. Apptronik: closes over $935M Series A with $520M extension (Feb 2026)
2. Apptronik: raises $350M Series A (Feb 2025)
3. Apptronik: Robot Park and Apollo 2 (Jun 2026)
4. Apptronik: creates Elevate Robotics (Jun 2025)
5. Apptronik: key executive hires (Apr 2026)
6. Mercedes-Benz Group: humanoid robots at the Digital Factory Campus Berlin (Mar 2025)
7. Apptronik and Jabil: collaborate to scale production (Feb 2025)
8. GXO (via Apptronik): multi-phase R&D initiative with Apptronik (Jun 2024)
9. Apptronik: collaborates with NVIDIA (Mar 2024)
10. Apptronik: closes additional Series A funding, $403M (Mar 2025)
11. Bloomberg: Apptronik triples valuation to over $5.5 billion (Feb 2026)
12. John Koetsier: interview with Apptronik CEO Jeff Cardenas, transcript (Jun 2026)
13. Apptronik: partners with Google DeepMind robotics (Dec 2024)
14. Apptronik: commercial agreement with Mercedes-Benz (Mar 2024)
15. Apptronik: unveils Apollo (Aug 2023)