Formic Raises $50M to Expand From Factory Automation Into General-Purpose Robotics
aiinsider ·
Formic has secured $50 million in new funding to transition its physical AI platform from task-specific factory automation toward general-purpose robotics. The Series B round was led by Mercato Partners, with additional participation from Light Ray Ventures, Lightscape Partners, and Citi, alongside debt financing from S2G Investments. This capital will support the expansion of Formic's capabilities into sectors such as aerospace, defense, medical, and energy, while also enhancing metal fabrication applications. Building on a fleet that has logged over 750,000 hours of production work across more than 100 facilities, the company aims to deploy robots faster and handle a wider variety of industrial tasks. Formic is collaborating with Physical Intelligence to adapt robotic foundation models using data gathered from its existing manufacturing deployments. The Chicago-based firm operates under a Robot-as-a-Service model, allowing customers to access equipment without upfront capital investment. CEO Saman Farid emphasized that this strategy enables manufacturers to increase output and keep production in the U.S. without significant balance sheet risks. The company reports high operational efficiency, citing 99.6% fleet uptime and a 97% customer renewal rate.
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