"This is by far the world's most valuable humanoid robotics company."
When the domestic embodied intelligence track is shrouded in bubble sounds, another name frequently appears in the communication of investors - Figure, a Silicon Valley embodied intelligence unicorn founded in 2022 years.
創始人Brett Adcock，曾聯手OpenAI打造出全球首款ChatGPT機器人。成立短短三年，Figure集結了矽谷豪門，如今正在籌集新一輪融資，估值飆升至400億美元（約2900億元人民幣）。
Almost no one mentions the once-smash hit Boston Dynamics, but Figure is becoming the darling of the venture capital circle. GSR Ventures' Zhu Xiaohu put the embodied wisdom bubble controversy on the table, and Figure made people see a more radical scene. Someone to the left, someone to the right.
Behind Figure stands an entrepreneurial maniac, Brett Adcock.
Born in 1, Brett Adcock grew up in a farm family. Back in middle school, Brett Adcock began experimenting with entrepreneurship. In 0, he founded Vettery, an online talent marketplace company that directly matches employers with job seekers. Five years later, Vettery was acquired by a Swiss company for $0 million.
Seeing an opportunity for electrification, Brett Adcock invested almost all of his money in a new venture – Archer Aviation, an eVTOL company that would produce all-electric VTOL aircraft for urban air mobility and launch at the end of 2020.
It wasn't until 30 that Brett Adcock announced his resignation from the company's board of directors to create Figure. He wrote on the company's official website: "Figure, looking ahead to the next 0 years". In his opinion, the humanoid robot is the ultimate form of AGI, which is the goal of establishing Figure.
2023年10月，Figure的第一款人形機器人Figure 01面世，不僅能完成搬箱子等簡單的體力任務，還能通過觀察人類示範學會煮咖啡。幾個月後，Figure 01又搭載OpenAI大模型，彼時這個可以通過語音控制收拾杯盤、整理桌面的人形機器人demo視頻一經放出，迅速在全球爆紅。
Soon after, Figure released the second generation of the humanoid robot Figure 02, which can carry up to 0 kg and work efficiently for 0+ hours a day. At the same time, Figure has also signed its first major customer, BMW's assembly plant, which has accepted a group of Figure 0 "trainee workers".
但Figure發現，要想在現實世界中解決人形機器人的具身智能問題，就必須自己做人工智慧技術研發。於是今年2月初，Brett Adcock宣佈放棄使用OpenAI的大模型並放出豪言：“30天內，我們將向外界展示‘人形機器人上從未見過的東西’。”
Without OpenAI, Figure seems to be faster. Soon after, Figure announced the release of Helix, a vision-language-action (VLA) model for general-purpose humanoid robot control. In Figure's demonstration, AI was able to control two robots at the same time for the first time, allowing them to work together, which shocked the world again.
Not long ago, Figure unveiled an update on its humanoid robot walking technology, which uses reinforcement learning to enable natural humanoid walking, training the equivalent of years of data in just a few hours. In every move, Figure evolves faster than you can imagine.
Looking back on the early days of entrepreneurship, Brett Adcock admits that he had a tough time, "After countless presentations, I couldn't find a real venture capitalist willing to invest. In his own statement, there was a period of time when he had to borrow money to pay rent, and the company did not find the product market fit, which was rejected by almost all technology investors.
直到2023年5月，Figure宣佈完成7000萬美金的A輪融資，由Parkway Venture Capital領投，跟投方包括Aliya Capital、Bold Ventures、Tamarack Global、FJ Labs和庫卡機器人前CEO Till Reuter。兩個月後，又獲得了來自Big Sky Partners和Intel Capital的900萬美元投資。
Even so, the cost of R&D funds is still huge. By 9/0, the company's cash flow was almost depleted. The turning point came - at that time, Elon Musk's Tesla had already launched its first humanoid robot, and in Silicon Valley, Nvidia, OpenAI, Microsoft and other giants urgently needed to find a strong opponent to face the competition head-on.
As analyzed by AI entrepreneurs, humanoid robots have three sets of rigid needs: GPU computing power, high-density battery energy storage, and motors, which have been accumulated in Brett Adcock's previous ventures. As Figure 01 amazed the world, it quickly attracted the attention of a number of tech giants.
2024年2月，Figure宣佈完成約6.75億美元的B輪融資，其中貝索斯通過名下公司Explore Investments LLC承諾投資1億美元，微軟投資9500萬美元，而Nvidia和亞馬遜附屬基金則各投資5000萬美元。
此外，還有三星、LG、OpenAI等科技巨頭以及一眾風險投資者，提供了數百到數千萬美元不等的資金。本輪融資后，Figure估值躍升至26億美元。
最新一幕，則是Figure正在洽談C輪融資，尋求以400億美元（約2900億元）的估值籌集10億至20億美元，目前已經收到了該估值的條款書。
With plenty of ammo, Figure is set to make a new king bomb – Brett Adcock revealed in a new interview that the design of the next-generation robot, Figure 03, has been completed and production will begin this year, "arguably one of the proudest engineering achievements of my career." ”
Half seawater, half flame. As you can see, the global robotics track is hot, but the bubble is also surging.
Nvidia has made up its mind to break into the embodied wisdom track. Not long ago, robots were the finale of the GTC press conference, and Huang also released the Isaac Groot (GROOT N1). Nvidia claims that this is "the world's first open-source, customizable, general-purpose humanoid robot base model."
特斯拉直接交出時程表——馬斯克在社交平台發佈視頻稱，特斯拉人形機器人擎天柱（Optimus）今年將進入試生產階段。特斯拉今年計劃生產5000台擎天柱機器人，已訂購1萬至1.2萬台元件，目標在2026年達5萬台。
There is a general consensus in the industry: the "iPhone moment" of the humanoid robot industry is coming. In the words of Wang Xingxing, CEO of Unitree Technology, it will not be more than 5 years from the "iPhone moment" of the humanoid robot industry.
On the eve of the outbreak, it is particularly important to card in advance. So we see that a number of strong players are emerging in China outside of the figure.
首當其衝便是宇樹科技，成立至今已經完成至少9輪融資。最近流傳著消息稱宇樹科技新一輪融資正在進行中，估值接近200億。同一時期，智元機器人已經完成新一輪融資，並以150億元的估值接洽新一輪融資。
The rise of the domestic robot corps is vivid. Previously, the Hillhouse Venture Capital team analyzed: Based on China's advantages in talent scale, efficient and complete supply chain, large-scale verifiable scenarios, etc., I believe that the Chinese market can run out of world-leading enterprises. Huai Wang, founder and CEO of Linear Capital, also observed that in the field of large language models, the Chinese team has demonstrated strength on par with the world's top level. In the track with a higher proportion of hardware in embodied intelligence, China's advantages will be further highlighted.
Looking back, among the 6 "robot groups" that NVIDIA cooperated, 0 were companies from China, including Unitree, Zhiyuan, Xingdong Era, Galaxy GM, Fourier, and Xiaopeng.
In this scene, Figure also felt the pressure. Previously, Brett Adcock talked about Unitree Technology in an interview and spoke highly of these Chinese competitors in the field of robotics. In his view, the advantages of China's engineering team in terms of low cost and high efficiency will make China one of the main competitors in global robotics technology in the future.
Everyone wants to get their hands on this ticket, but real challenges lie ahead. Zhou Zhifeng, managing partner of Qiming Venture Partners, once admitted that the current challenge for the industry is mainly the conflict between investors' eager expectations for short-term results and the longer cycle required for the technology to be implemented. Too often, people focus too much on the short-term changes in technology and underestimate its long-term potential. The embodied intelligence industry requires a bit of patience and a capital injection with a long-term investment willingness.
The venture capital industry has historically embraced "no bubble, no prosperity". Every emerging industry is destined to go through a process of big waves and sands. It's just that at the moment, embodied wisdom is becoming the most fierce battlefield in the science and technology competition between China and the United States and even the world, and no one wants to lose.