London-based robotics startup Machenta has secured $40 million in a seed funding round. The investment was co-led by Creandum and Union Square Ventures.
Founded in 2025, the company is developing a foundation model designed to enable robots to learn new tasks from a single demonstration. This approach aims to replace traditional methods that require thousands of human demonstrations and weeks of training time.
The startup currently employs 11 people and plans to use the new capital to expand its team, increase computing power, and generate more simulated data. The company is also relocating to a new office and laboratory in King’s Cross, London.
Machenta is currently in the research phase and has no immediate plans for commercialization. The team is focused on improving the precision and complexity of motions that its AI model can perform, as these remain significant technical challenges.
The robotics sector is seeing high investment activity, with global venture funding for physical AI reaching $47.4 billion across 521 deals in the first half of 2026. Humanoid robotics companies raised $8.6 billion by late July.
