Genesis AI, a startup working on software for robots, has raised $105 million in a funding round with both US and Chinese backers — a rarity in an industry split along geopolitical lines.
The company, which lists headquarters in Paris and Palo Alto, California, announced the investment in a statement on Tuesday. Venture capital firms Khosla Ventures and Eclipse Capital led the financing, which also included participation from French public bank Bpifrance, tech billionaires Eric Schmidt and Xavier Niel, and HongShan, the fund formerly known as Sequoia China.
The company, which lists headquarters in Paris and Palo Alto, California, announced the investment in a statement on Tuesday. Venture capital firms Khosla Ventures and Eclipse Capital led the financing, which also included participation from French public bank Bpifrance, tech billionaires Eric Schmidt and Xavier Niel, and HongShan, the fund formerly known as Sequoia China.
Investors are rushing into robotics, hoping that the latest generative AI will lead to dexterous autonomous machines capable of navigating battlefields or ironing clothes. While China has advanced rapidly with humanoid robot production, Europe has lagged behind. behind China and the US in robotics and AI has alarmed analysts and politicians.
Genesis AI, which was incorporated last December, was founded by Zhou Xian, a Chinese-born robotics researcher, and Theophile Gervet, a French scientist who previously worked for Parisian startup Mistral AI. Genesis AI said it will build robotics systems “to make it possible to automate all manual tasks” in the statement.
In recent years, China’s largest tech companies and investors have largely stayed out of Europe. In 2023, venture capital powerhouse Sequoia Capital split its global operations in three after geopolitical tensions made Chinese investments difficult.
Genesis AI declined to share a valuation for the deal. Bloomberg
