Apptronik
Austin maker of the Apollo humanoid, backed by Google, Mercedes-Benz and John Deere
Scaleup · Pilot · Humanoid startup · Austin, Texas, United States · Founded 2016 · apptronik.com
Profile
University of Texas Human Centered Robotics Lab spinout that has built 15 robotic systems including work on NASA's Valkyrie. Apollo is in pilots with Mercedes-Benz and GXO,; Google is an investor. Its Series A totals more than $935M after a $520M extension in Feb 2026.
People
- Jeff Cardenas FounderCo-founder and Chief Executive Officer@jeffcardnHandle linked from company X account
- Nick Paine FounderCo-founder and Chief Technology Officer
Sources: Apptronik raises $520 million at $5 billion valuation for Apollo robot (CNBC) · Apptronik leadership page · As of . X handles are shown only when we could confirm they belong to the person.
Chatter on X
Social posts, not verified facts. What X is saying about this company, rated for how far it can be trusted. Shows the last 14 days, plus anything still unresolved.
Items shown have cleared our internal credibility screen.
- LikelyProduct demoFirst seen Oct 10
Visitor reports many humanoids in motion at Apptronik's Austin Robot Park
An investor-community figure toured the site on Oct 9 and posted about it. Apptronik describes Robot Park as a roughly 90,000 sq ft facility for collecting robot training data.
Reported, not yet confirmed by the company.
Why this label- First-hand account from a visitor, who says some details are under NDA
- Consistent with Apptronik's own Robot Park announcement
History: Confirmed Oct 10 (First reported) → Likely Oct 10 (Rating revised after further checking)
Primary post on X · @bradsferguson, Oct 10Reporting: Apptronik: Robot Park
Labels
- Confirmed
- The company, an SEC filing or a major outlet backs it.
- Likely
- A credible first-hand source or named outlet reports it; nothing official yet.
- Unverified
- One source, or a source with a thin track record. Treat as a rumor.
- Disputed
- A credible party contests it.
Last checked Oct 10. Official account @Apptronik: 0 posts in the last 14 days, last post Sep 23.
Flagship robots
- Apollo Humanoid
Piloted with Mercedes-Benz and GXO; a new robot is slated to debut in 2026
Funding and valuation
Latest round
$520M
Series A-X (extension) · Feb 11, 2026
Led by B Capital, Google
Also Mercedes-Benz, PEAK6, AT&T Ventures, John Deere, Qatar Investment Authority.
Total raised
about $1B
As of Feb 11, 2026
'Nearly $1 billion' total; Series A total >$935M
Valuation
$5B Reported
reported valuation at Series A-X · Feb 11, 2026
CNBC reported $5B; Bloomberg reported more than $5.5B; company did not disclose
Hiring signals
- Open roles
- 80all roles
- Top location
- Austin · 81%65 of 80 roles
- Top role area
- Embedded & electrical15 roles · 22% of 67 engineering & ops
Where the roles are · share of 80 open roles (all roles)
- Austin, Texas, US81%65 roles
- Sunnyvale, California, US18%14 roles
- Mountain View, California, US1%1 roles
Locations are where the posting says the job is based, not where the robots are built. A posting that lists several sites is counted once, under the first.
Role mix · 67 engineering & ops roles
Show 7 more areas
Roles are sorted into a fixed list of areas by job title. Percentages are of engineering & ops roles. The other 13 open roles (finance, HR, legal, sales, facilities and similar) are in the total but not shown here.
Notable postings
- JobSenior role in Embedded & electrical, one of the company's largest hiring areasStaff Electrical Engineer - ComputeSunnyvale, California, US
- JobSenior role in Actuators & mechanical, one of the company's largest hiring areasStaff Drivetrain EngineerAustin, Texas, US
- JobSenior role in Perception & vision, one of the company's largest hiring areasStaff Perception Hardware EngineerAustin, Texas, US
- JobSenior role in Manipulation & hands, one of the company's largest hiring areasStaff Mechanical Engineer – Robotic Hand Design Tech LeadAustin, Texas, US
- JobSenior role in AI & foundation models, one of the company's largest hiring areasPrincipal Robotics Machine Learning EngineerAustin, Texas, US
As of . Scope: all roles. Counts are our reading of public job postings, not company statements.
Scope note All open Apptronik postings, including non-engineering roles. Apptronik is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
Competitors
Companies with overlapping products. Direct = same customers and same job; Adjacent = overlapping technology or market, different focus.
NEURA Robotics
Direct competitorBoth are building humanoids for factory and logistics customers: NEURA Robotics makes cognitive cobots and the 4NE1 humanoid, while Apptronik builds the Apollo humanoid, now in pilots with Mercedes-Benz and GXO.
Agile Robots
Direct competitorBoth are building humanoids for factory and logistics customers: Agile Robots makes industrial cobots and has launched the Agile ONE industrial humanoid, while Apptronik builds the Apollo humanoid, now in pilots with Mercedes-Benz and GXO.
Agility Robotics
Direct competitorBoth are building humanoids for factory and logistics customers: Agility Robotics sells the Digit biped for tote moving in logistics and manufacturing, while Apptronik builds the Apollo humanoid, now in pilots with Mercedes-Benz and GXO.
Show 5 more
Humanoid (SKL Robotics)
Direct competitorBoth are building humanoids for factory and logistics customers: Humanoid (SKL Robotics) builds the HMND 01 industrial humanoid in London, while Apptronik builds the Apollo humanoid, now in pilots with Mercedes-Benz and GXO.
Boston Dynamics
Direct competitorBoth are building humanoids for factory and logistics customers: Boston Dynamics is training the electric Atlas for Hyundai's factories and also sells Spot and Stretch, while Apptronik builds the Apollo humanoid, now in pilots with Mercedes-Benz and GXO.
Hexagon Robotics
Direct competitorBoth are building humanoids for factory and logistics customers: Hexagon Robotics makes the wheeled AEON industrial humanoid, piloted with BMW and Schaeffler, while Apptronik builds the Apollo humanoid, now in pilots with Mercedes-Benz and GXO.
Mentee Robotics
Adjacent competitorBoth are building general-purpose humanoids: Mentee Robotics builds a camera-only humanoid and is now owned by Mobileye, while Apptronik builds the Apollo humanoid, now in pilots with Mercedes-Benz and GXO.
Tesla (Optimus)
Adjacent competitorBoth are building general-purpose humanoids for factory work: Tesla develops Optimus in-house and so far builds it mostly for its own factories, while Apptronik builds the Apollo humanoid, now in pilots with Mercedes-Benz and GXO.
Recent news
- — Apollo 2 used to demonstrate Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2 whole-body control Google DeepMind
- — Apptronik closes $520M Series A-X, bringing Series A to >$935M Apptronik
Sources
- Apptronik Closes Over $935 Million Series A with New $520 Million Extension Round (Feb 11, 2026)
- Humanoid Maker Apptronik Triples Valuation to Over $5.5 Billion With New Funding (Bloomberg) (Feb 11, 2026)
- Apptronik raises $520 million at $5 billion valuation for Apollo robot (CNBC) (Feb 11, 2026)
- Apptronik raises $520M Series A extension (Crunchbase News) (Feb 11, 2026)
Confidence: medium.