Figure AI: Serial entrepreneur goes all-in on humanoid robots, reaching a $39 billion valuation in three years

Origin

Founder Brett Adcock previously founded the recruitment platform Vettery (acquired by The Adecco Group for approximately $110 million in 2018) and the electric flying taxi company Archer (listed on the NYSE in 2021). After two successful exits, he concluded that the combination of AGI and a shortage of low-cost labor would create the largest market in history: general-purpose humanoid robots. He founded Figure in 2022 with approximately $100 million in self-funded startup capital, poaching robotics engineers from companies like Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and IHMC. His goal was not to create flashy demos, but to put robots to work directly in factories, using a human form factor to adapt to existing human work environments and bypassing the exorbitant costs of retrofitting production lines.

Milestones

Turning Points

• January 2024: Signed a commercial deployment agreement with BMW, shifting from R&D demos to real factory scenarios and securing the first paid commercial validation.
• February 2024: Secured $675 million in Series B funding and an OpenAI partnership, jumping from fundraising difficulties to a $2.6 billion valuation within a year.
• February 2025: Decisively terminated the partnership with OpenAI to pivot to the fully self-developed Helix model, betting on a vertically integrated hardware and software strategy.
• 2025: Announced the BotQ mass production factory and a four-year, 100,000-unit capacity plan, transitioning from a single-unit R&D company to a mass-manufacturing company.

Failures & Pitfalls

• Early in the startup phase, the company was rejected by over 100 investment institutions; the hardware focus and high burn rate deterred most VCs, forcing Adcock to rely on self-funding for the first year.
• During the Figure 01 phase, the robot's primary capabilities were limited to slow walking and simple grasping demos, leaving a massive gap to practical factory utility and leading to external criticism that it was merely a 'walking video company'.
• Following the public breakup with OpenAI in 2025, the market questioned the source of its AI capabilities, causing significant volatility in its valuation narrative.
• As of the end of 2025, actual deliveries were only in the hundreds, creating a massive discrepancy with its stated ambition of one million units, a point frequently cited by short-selling narratives regarding mass production risks.

Core Data

• Third round valuation：$39 billion (September 2025) (Based on public data, independent verification not performed)
• Second round funding：$675 million (2024) (Based on public data, independent verification not performed)
• First round funding：$70 million (2023) (Based on public data, independent verification not performed)
• Founder self-funded startup capital：Approximately $100 million (Based on public data, independent verification not performed)
• Second round valuation：$2.6 billion (2024) (Based on public data, independent verification not performed)
• First year planned capacity：12,000 units (Based on public data, independent verification not performed)
• Long-term delivery goal：One million units (Based on public data, independent verification not performed)
• Actual cumulative deliveries：Approximately hundreds of units (Based on public data, independent verification not performed)

Competitors / Peers

Figure's most direct competitor is Tesla's Optimus, with Musk claiming future production in the millions and backing from Tesla's factories and cash flow. Next is Boston Dynamics' modern Atlas (the electric version is already being tested in partnership with Hyundai factories) and Agility Robotics' Digit (already deployed in GXO logistics warehouses), both competing for orders in differentiated scenarios. In the Chinese camp, Unitree Robotics has risen rapidly with low costs and high shipment volumes; industry valuations often compare Unitree and Figure side-by-side. Figure's core moat lies in its full-stack self-developed models and elite capital alliance, but its mass production delivery numbers currently lag behind its narrative momentum.