Japan Post Capital announced on the 21st that it has participated in the Series A funding round of Apptronik, a US company developing humanoid robots equipped with physical AI.
The company was founded in 2016 as a spinout from the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. Currently, it has more than 150 employees and is working on the development of the humanoid robot “Apollo” after years of research and development, including NASA projects.
Apollo is designed for collaboration with humans, and in the near term, it is expected to be used in manufacturing and logistics for tasks such as unloading trailers and case picking. Furthermore, in the future, it will be developed to handle work in areas closer to humans, such as healthcare and household chores.
In February 2025, the company announced that it had raised $350 million in a Series A round led by B Capital and Capital Factory. Google also participated in this round. Furthermore, in March, Japan Post Capital, Mercedes-Benz, ARK Invest, Helium-3, Magnetar, RyderVentures, and a syndicate led by Korea Investment Partners newly joined the round, resulting in an announcement of an additional $53 million raised.
Also in March, the company announced a strategic partnership with Google DeepMind for the development of next-generation humanoid robots. They are also advancing strategic partnerships with major companies in various industries, including Mercedes-Benz, GXO Logistics, and NVIDIA.
With this large-scale funding as a catalyst, Apptronik plans to accelerate the production and deployment of Apollo to respond to increasing demand in key industries such as automotive, electronics manufacturing, and logistics.
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