Nvidia, SoftBank chase robotics brain Skild AI with $1B bet at $14B valuation — TFN
SoftBank Group and Nvidia are reportedly nearing a deal to co-lead an investment exceeding $1 billion in Skild AI at a valuation of $14 billion—an eye-popping jump for a startup valued at $4.7 billion just seven months ago. That previous round brought in $500 million from backers including SoftBank, LG Technology Ventures, Samsung, and Nvidia, setting the stage for one of robotics’ fastest-rising software bets.
A software-first bid to unify robots
Founded in 2023 by researchers Deepak Pathak and Abhinav Gupta, Skild AI is betting that the future of robotics won’t be defined by a single iconic machine, but by a shared “brain” that can adapt to many. Rather than designing hardware, the company is building a robot-agnostic intelligence model intended to run across diverse form factors—industrial arms, household helpers, loader bots, warehouse movers, and more. Think of it as a cross-robot operating layer: one model, many bodies and tasks.
In July, Skild unveiled “Skild Brain,” a general-purpose robotic model shown in demos performing flexible tasks such as picking up dishes and climbing stairs. What sparked attention wasn’t just the repertoire, but the transfer: skills generalizing across different robots and environments rather than being locked to a single rig. The company has since signed partnerships with LG CNS and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, telegraphing ambitions to build an ecosystem around its platform rather than remain a stand-alone product.
Why Nvidia and SoftBank?
If the deal closes, the two investors would bolster the pillars Skild needs most:
- Computational scale: Training and deploying large robotics models requires immense GPU capacity and tooling—Nvidia’s wheelhouse.
- Global distribution and alliances: SoftBank’s network across telecoms, logistics, and automation could accelerate go-to-market paths and integrations.
For Nvidia, the move extends its strategy beyond silicon into the higher layers of robotics software intelligence, creating demand for its compute while positioning it closer to the brain of future machines. For SoftBank, it aligns with a long-running thesis that robotics will reshape work, logistics, manufacturing, and home services—provided the intelligence layer matures fast enough.
A funding wave for robot smarts
Capital is rushing into software-defined robotics. Physical Intelligence, another model-first robotics startup, recently raised $600 million at a $5.6 billion valuation in a round led by CapitalG. Meanwhile, humanoid-focused companies are fetching even larger price tags: Figure secured over $1 billion at a $39 billion valuation, and 1X has reportedly been in talks to raise up to $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation.
These trajectories underscore a split-screen future: one path betting on humanoids as the universal hardware interface, the other on platform-agnostic intelligence that can inhabit many machines. The outcome will direct where the next trillions in automation spending ultimately flow.
What Skild is really selling
The promise isn’t a robot that can simply walk or lift—it’s the generic know-how to make any robot useful, quickly. That includes:
- Adaptability: Transfer learning across form factors, tasks, and settings.
- Scalability: Centralized training and distributed deployment across fleets.
- Ecosystem leverage: Partnerships with integrators and infrastructure providers to reduce deployment friction.
If Skild’s model reliably delivers, it could become the software engine room for a generation of machines, compressing development cycles and lowering the cost of robotic capability across industries.
The big question
Humanoids offer a tantalizing promise: drop-in replacements for human labor in spaces built for humans. Software-first platforms argue for near-term practicality: deploy intelligence wherever there’s a viable chassis and ROI. Both can win, but which scales sooner? Investors are hedging across both strategies, with Skild representing the purest bet on general-purpose robotic cognition independent of any single body plan.
By the numbers
- New round: Reportedly $1B+ led by SoftBank and Nvidia at a $14B valuation
- Prior round: $500M at a $4.7B valuation, seven months ago
- Notable backers to date: SoftBank, Nvidia, LG Technology Ventures, Samsung
- Key partners: LG CNS, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
- Peer funding: Physical Intelligence $600M at $5.6B (led by CapitalG)
- Humanoid comps: Figure $1B+ at $39B; 1X reportedly eyeing up to $1B at $10B
Outlook
Skild AI’s rapid rise signals a broader shift in robotics investing—from backing bespoke machines to funding the universal intelligence layer that can animate many. For Nvidia and SoftBank, participating would cement roles at the center of that shift: one supplying the compute, the other the global distribution and strategic footprint.
The market is still early, the technical challenges are nontrivial, and real-world reliability will be the true test. But if Skild’s approach scales, it could redefine the stack from the top down—making “robot brains” the most valuable part of the machine.
