Generalist AI
Robot foundation-model lab founded by ex-DeepMind researchers; $600M Series B, reportedly at $3B
Startup · Pilot · Robot foundation model · San Francisco, California, United States · Founded 2024 · generalistai.com
- Founders Pete Florence, Andy Zeng, Andrew Barry · titles not confirmed
- Customers · not named
Profile
Generalist AI trains robot foundation models intended to generalize across many robot bodies, environments and tasks. It was founded in 2024 by former Google DeepMind researchers Pete Florence and Andy Zeng and former Boston Dynamics engineer Andrew Barry, and worked quietly until 2026. It says its GEN-1.5 model lets robots pick up new tasks from video demonstrations of 3 to 12 seconds. In June 2026 it announced $400M led by Radical Ventures at a $2B valuation, saying its total raised passed $500M; in August an extension of about $200M led by 8VC brought the Series B to $600M at a reported $3B valuation. It is working with a handful of unnamed customers.
Notes Reported The August extension and $3B valuation are not confirmed by the company; the extension amount matches its Form D.
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Leadership
- Pete Florence, Co-founder & CEO
- Andy Zeng, Co-founder
- Andrew Barry, Co-founder
Flagship products
- GEN-1.5 AI model
Robot foundation model meant to work across many robot types; the company says it learns new tasks from 3-12 second video demonstrations
Funding and valuation
Latest round
$600M
Series B (with extension) · Aug 25, 2026
Led by Radical Ventures, 8VC (extension)
Also Union Square Ventures, Hanabi Capital, Norwest, NVIDIA, Boldstart Ventures, Spark Capital, Bezos Expeditions, NFDG.
$400M announced Jun 4, 2026 (Form D: $363.8M sold of $400M) plus a ~$200M extension led by 8VC (Form D Aug 24, 2026: $198.2M sold); the $600M round total and 8VC lead are per TechCrunch sources.
- Generalist - Accelerating the Next Phase of Physical AI (Generalist) (Jun 4, 2026)
- Robotics startup Generalist reaches $3B valuation, sources say (TechCrunch) (Aug 25, 2026)
- Form D: Generalist AI, Inc. (SEC) (Jun 5, 2026)
- Form D: Generalist AI, Inc. (SEC, August 2026) (Aug 24, 2026)
Total raised
about $700M
As of Aug 24, 2026
Lower bound: the company said the $400M brought its total to more than $500M; a further ~$198M was sold per the August Form D
- Generalist - Accelerating the Next Phase of Physical AI (Generalist) (Jun 4, 2026)
- Form D: Generalist AI, Inc. (SEC, August 2026) (Aug 24, 2026)
Valuation
$3B Reported
post-money (reported) · Aug 25, 2026
Reported by TechCrunch from two sources; $2B at the June round per Bloomberg
Hiring signals
- Open roles
- 21all roles
- Top location
- San Francisco Bay Area (San Mateo) or Boston (Somerville) · 81%17 of 21 roles
- Top role area
- Other engineering & ops6 roles · 33% of 18 engineering & ops
Where the roles are · share of 21 open roles (all roles)
- San Francisco Bay Area (San Mateo) or Boston (Somerville)81%17 roles
- Boston (Somerville)14%3 roles
- San Francisco Bay Area (San Mateo)5%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 · 18 engineering & ops roles
Show 1 more areas
Roles are sorted into a fixed list of areas by job title. Percentages are of engineering & ops roles. The other 3 open roles (finance, HR, legal, sales, facilities and similar) are in the total but not shown here.
Notable postings
- JobSenior role in Other engineering & ops, one of the company's largest hiring areasStrategic Deals LeadSan Francisco Bay Area (San Mateo) or Boston (Somerville)
- JobSenior role in AI & foundation models, one of the company's largest hiring areasData Collection Lab ManagerBoston (Somerville)
- JobTypical role in Software & infrastructure, one of the company's largest hiring areasSoftware Engineer: FrontendSan Francisco Bay Area (San Mateo) or Boston (Somerville)
- JobTypical role in Controls, one of the company's largest hiring areasSoftware Engineer: Robotics ControlsSan Francisco Bay Area (San Mateo) or Boston (Somerville)
- JobTypical role in Actuators & mechanical, one of the company's largest hiring areasMechanical EngineerBoston (Somerville)
As of . Scope: all roles. Counts are our reading of public job postings, not company statements.
Scope note All open Generalist AI postings, read from its Ashby job board (jobs.ashbyhq.com/generalist).
Trademarks
1 name filed in the US since 2025 · last checked .
- GENERALIST Examiner objectionProviding temporary use of online non-downloadable computer software for deploying robotic control models to robots.
Source: USPTO Trademark Search, matched on the company’s legal names. Rechecked on the 1st and 15th of each month. A filing shows intent to use a name in the US, not a launched product.
Competitors
Companies with overlapping products. Direct = same customers and same job; Adjacent = overlapping technology or market, different focus.
Rhoda AI
Direct competitorBoth build general robot AI models that other companies' robots can run: Rhoda AI is building a robot brain pre-trained on internet video, while Generalist AI builds the GEN robot foundation models meant to run on many robot types.
FieldAI
Direct competitorBoth build general robot AI models that other companies' robots can run: FieldAI builds Field Foundation Models for robots working in unstructured sites, while Generalist AI builds the GEN robot foundation models meant to run on many robot types.
Genesis AI
Direct competitorBoth build general robot AI models that other companies' robots can run: Genesis AI builds a robot-brain model and now its own hand and the Eno robot, while Generalist AI builds the GEN robot foundation models meant to run on many robot types.
Recent news
- — Extends its Series B to $600M with about $200M led by 8VC, at a reported $3B valuation TechCrunch Reported
- — Announces $400M led by Radical Ventures, bringing total funding past $500M Generalist
Sources
- Generalist - Accelerating the Next Phase of Physical AI (Generalist) (Jun 4, 2026)
- Announcing our Investment in Generalist (8VC) (Jun 4, 2026)
- Robotics startup Generalist reaches $3B valuation, sources say (TechCrunch) (Aug 25, 2026)
- Form D: Generalist AI, Inc. (SEC) (Jun 5, 2026)
- Form D: Generalist AI, Inc. (SEC, August 2026) (Aug 24, 2026)
Confidence: medium.