Venture capital flows into robotics and physical AI startups reached $16.3 billion across 492 deals in Q1 2026 and $18.6 billion across 450 deals in Q2 2026. Hardware companies currently represent nearly one-third of all venture capital deployed in the US this year.
Global funding for the sector grew from approximately $4 billion in 2019 to $26 billion in 2025. By the middle of 2026, the industry had already secured more than $23 billion in funding. SVB projects that total annual investment could reach $120 billion if current trends continue.
In August 2026, Andreessen Horowitz launched a $1.1 billion fund named Machine Age, specifically targeting robotics infrastructure and chips. Additionally, Robocurve, a firm focused on robotics benchmarking, secured $10 million in a seed round in September 2026.
The surge in investment is driven by the need for advanced compute, specialized silicon, and sensors to support large language models and edge inference. Defense autonomy is also attracting significant capital as government spending on autonomous systems increases.
The investor landscape is evolving as traditional seed-stage firms partner with sovereign wealth funds, corporate investors, and defense-focused backers. These groups are adapting to the high capital intensity and longer development cycles inherent in hardware startups.
