TerraFirma
Ex-SpaceX engineers turning bulldozers and excavators into remotely supervised robots
Startup · Pilot · Robotics leader · Austin, Texas, United States · Founded 2024 · terrafirma.inc
Included as autonomous construction machinery, not a humanoid or general-purpose robot maker. Its valuation has not been disclosed. Kleiner Perkins' own post calls the full $115M a Series A; the company's announcement describes a $100M Series A within about $115M raised.
Profile
TerraFirma is not a humanoid company: it makes semi-autonomous construction machinery. It retrofits conventional excavators, dozers, loaders, rollers and skid steers with its own software so a single operator can supervise several machines from a remote command center. It does not sell the machines. It runs them itself as a construction contractor, doing excavation, grading and site preparation, with early jobs in Texas. Founded in 2024 by two former SpaceX engineers, it raised a $100M Series A led by Kleiner Perkins in July 2026, about $115M in total, and says it plans to hire about 300 people over the next year and build a Texas factory. Austin-based, it has opened a new headquarters in Buda, Texas.
People
- Noah Schochet FounderCo-founder and Chief Executive Officer@noah_schochetRole confirmed in their X bio
- Noah McGuinness FounderCo-founder and Chief Technology Officer
As of . X handles are shown only when we could confirm they belong to the person.
Appearances
Talks, panels and interviews by this company’s leaders, newest first. What a speaker said is their own claim, not our finding.
- USPublishedPodcast
Inevitable podcast (MCJ), host Cody Simms
“Faster, Safer, Cheaper: How TerraFirma Is Rebuilding Construction”
Noah Schochet, Co-founder & CEO
Summary (From the transcript)
Schochet described TerraFirma as a construction company that builds its own robotics and software rather than selling robots, saying customers want outcomes, not machines. He said operators supervise three to five machines each from a mission-control room, that the company has beaten the schedule and cost of every project so far, and that headcount has grown tenfold in six to nine months. He also discussed the $100 million Series A and expects people to stay in the loop rather than fully autonomous construction.
What Noah said (the speaker’s own claims, not our findings)
- TerraFirma has beaten the timeline and cost of every project it has worked on (Schochet's claim).
- It has probably the most revenue of any construction-robotics player (Schochet's claim; not verified).
- Headcount grew about tenfold in six to nine months (Schochet's claim).
- Operators supervise three to five machines each; people stay in the loop (Schochet's claim).
Coverage and sources:Kleiner Perkins (investor post) (Jul 15, investor note)Event pageTranscript
As of . Items we could not verify are marked or left out.
Flagship products
- TerraFirma robotic earthworks fleet Autonomous machines
Retrofitted excavators, dozers, loaders, rollers and skid steers that run semi-autonomously, with one operator supervising several machines from a remote command center
Funding and valuation
Latest round
$100M
Series A · Jul 14, 2026
Led by Kleiner Perkins
Also Bain Capital Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, BANNER VC, Saga Ventures, Trust Ventures, Definition, PEAK6, Magnetar Capital, Ravelin Capital.
Total raised
about $115M
As of Jul 14, 2026
About $115M raised in total, including the $100M Series A
Hiring signals
- Open roles
- 31all roles
- Top location
- Austin · 100%31 of 31 roles
- Top role area
- Other engineering & ops10 roles · 45% of 22 engineering & ops
Where the roles are · share of 31 open roles (all roles)
- Austin, Texas, US100%31 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 · 22 engineering & ops roles
Show 4 more areas
Roles are sorted into a fixed list of areas by job title. Percentages are of engineering & ops roles. The other 9 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 areasProgram Director, Federal Construction & OperationsAustin, Texas, US
- JobTypical role in Manufacturing engineering, one of the company's largest hiring areasIntegration TechnicianAustin, Texas, US
- JobTypical role in Embedded & electrical, one of the company's largest hiring areasElectrical EngineerAustin, Texas, US
- JobTypical role in Perception & vision, one of the company's largest hiring areasRobotics Engineer - PerceptionAustin, Texas, US
- JobTypical role in Navigation & locomotion, one of the company's largest hiring areasRobotics Software Engineer - Motion Planning, State Estimation, & ControlAustin, Texas, US
As of . Scope: all roles. Counts are our reading of public job postings, not company statements.
Scope note All open TerraFirma postings, including non-engineering roles. The job board lists the Austin office; the company moved its headquarters to Buda, Texas in April 2026.
Trademarks
No US filings since 2025 (last checked ).
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.
Bedrock Robotics
Adjacent competitorBoth retrofit construction machines with autonomy: Bedrock Robotics retrofits excavators with autonomy kits aimed at operator-free operation, while TerraFirma retrofits construction machines and runs them itself as a contractor rather than selling the machines.
Gravis Robotics
Adjacent competitorBoth retrofit construction machines with autonomy: Gravis Robotics sells the Gravis Rack, an autonomy kit fitted to existing excavators of many brands, while TerraFirma retrofits construction machines and runs them itself as a contractor rather than selling the machines.
Recent news
- — Raises $100M Series A led by Kleiner Perkins, about $115M in total Business Wire
- — SpaceX alumni behind TerraFirma land $115M to build remote-controlled construction equipment CNBC
Sources
- TerraFirma Raises $115M to Accelerate Construction on Earth and Beyond (Business Wire) (Jul 14, 2026)
- SpaceX alumni who founded TerraFirma land $115M funding round (CNBC) (Jul 14, 2026)
- TerraFirma Raises $100M in Series A Funding (FinSMEs) (Jul 14, 2026)
- TerraFirma: Built for Earth, Bound for Mars (Kleiner Perkins) (Jul 14, 2026)
- Austin startup TerraFirma lands $100M series A round (Austin Business Journal) (Jul 14, 2026)
- TerraFirma website (Oct 9, 2026)
Confidence: high.