Skild AI Confirms $300Mil Series A to Revolutionize General-Purpose AI for Robotics

In a significant update to our previous coverage, Skild AI, the stealthy East Liberty-based AI robotics company, has confirmed their $300Mil Series A. This substantial investment, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, SoftBank Group, and Jeff Bezos through Bezos Expeditions, brings the company's valuation to $1.5Bil. The round also saw participation from notable investors including Sequoia, Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, Felicis Ventures, CRV, Amazon, SV Angel, and CMU. With this announcement, Skild AI becomes the fourth Pittsburgh-based unicorn founded by Carnegie Mellon professors, joining the ranks of Aurora, Duolingo, and Stack AV.

Breaking the Data Barrier in Robotics

As we reported in mid-May, Skild AI, founded in 2023 by CMU professors Deepak Pathak and Abhinav Gupta, aims to build a scalable AI foundation model for robotics. Unlike traditional robotic systems designed for specific tasks, Skild AI's model serves as a general-purpose brain capable of adapting to various robots, scenarios, and tasks. This includes complex activities such as manipulation, locomotion, and navigation, making robots more versatile and capable of performing a wide range of functions. The company's model is trained on a data set that is 1,000 times larger than those used by competitors, incorporating data from human-operated robots, random task execution, and public videos. This extensive training allows Skild AI's robots to exhibit "emergent capabilities," enabling them to perform tasks they were not explicitly programmed to do, such as picking up dropped objects or manipulating items more effectively.

Addressing Labor Shortages and Enhancing Safety

Skild AI's technology is particularly relevant in the context of the current labor market. The U.S. faces a significant labor shortage, with more than1.7 million jobs unfilled, particularly in industries like healthcare, construction, manufacturing, and warehousing. The National Association of Manufacturers projects that there will be 2.1 million unfulfilled manufacturing jobs by 2030. Skild AI's robots can help bridge this gap by performing repetitive, mundane, and dangerous tasks, thus enhancing productivity and safety in various sectors.

Vision for the Future

The founders of Skild AI, Deepak Pathak and Abhinav Gupta, bring over 25 years of combined experience in robotics and AI. They have been credited with numerous industry breakthroughs, including self-supervised robotics and adaptive robot learning. Their vision for Skild AI is to create a general-purpose AI that can be integrated into any robot, democratizing the cost and expanding the capabilities of robotic systems. The company plans to use the Series A funding to scale its foundational model and prepare for commercial deployment. This includes expanding its AI, robotics, engineering, operations, and security teams. Skild AI aims to emulate the success of OpenAI by offering access to its robotic AI brain, allowing customers to develop robots tailored to specific tasks and use cases.

Industry Impact

Investors and industry experts are optimistic about Skild AI's potential to revolutionize the robotics industry. Raviraj Jain, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, described Skild AI as a "one-of-a-kind company" that could redefine what machines are capable of. Stephanie Zhan, Partner at Sequoia Capital, likened Skild AI's advancements to a "GPT-3 moment" for robotics, predicting a monumental shift in the industry. Sri Viswanath, General Partner at Coatue, emphasized the potential for Skild AI's technology to disrupt the physical economy by bringing robots in hazardous jobs and sectors suffering from labor shortages. Aydin Senkut, Founder and Managing Partner of Felicis Ventures, highlighted Skild AI's visionary approach and its potential to fundamentally reshape the global workforce.