Robotic knowledge startup Mecka AI nabs $60M from Sequoia

Mecka AI, a startup that collects and analyzes human movement knowledge to coach humanoid robots and different kinds of robots, introduced it has raised a $60 million Series B spherical led by Sequoia, with participation from Nvidia, Microsoft’s enterprise fund M12, and others. TechCrunch had beforehand reported that the startup was nearing a brand new funding spherical at a $500 million valuation.

Founded in 2024, the startup intends to do for robotics what Scale AI, Mercor, Surge, and different data-labeling firms have executed for LLMs. Those firms provide the human-generated knowledge these programs study from. Mecka pays individuals to file themselves doing on a regular basis duties, like making espresso or fixing automobiles, whereas sporting physique sensors and utilizing smartphones.

Other startups that gather real-world knowledge for robotic coaching embrace XDOF, which was in talks to boost a Series B spherical at a $1.2 billion valuation in response to TechCrunch’s earlier reporting. Human-data platforms that started with LLMs are additionally increasing into robotics, equivalent to Scale AI and Micro1.