Humanoid Startup Valuations Surge in Korea, US and China as Tomorrow Robotics Targets $323 Million

Humanoid robotics startups are drawing increasingly lofty valuations. More early-stage companies are winning valuations of hundreds of millions of dollars, underscoring how an investment boom that began in the US and China is spreading to South Korea.

From $21.5 Million to $323 Million in Six Months

According to the venture capital industry on July 28, Tomorrow Robotics has begun a Series A funding round. The company is seeking to raise at least 100 billion won ($71.7 million) and is targeting a valuation of about 450 billion won ($323 million).

Tomorrow Robotics was valued at 30 billion won ($21.5 million) in a pre-Series A round late last year. That implies its valuation has jumped about 15-fold in roughly six months. The startup was founded in 2022 by Jang Byung-tak, a Seoul National University computer science professor and director of its AI research institute. It is developing a humanoid intelligence platform based on general-purpose AI for industrial settings such as logistics and manufacturing.

Other humanoid startups are also chasing valuations in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Diden Robotics is conducting a Series A round of about 100 billion won ($71.7 million) at a target valuation of 500 billion won ($359 million). Robros and Arobot are also preparing to seek funding on a similar scale.

Industry participants describe the premium attached to humanoid startups as a spillover from Holiday Robotics. The company recently raised 155 billion won ($111 million) in a Series A round and was valued at 750 billion won ($538 million). That was the largest amount raised in a domestic Series A financing.

Bubble Concerns Intensify

The jump in humanoid startup valuations is not unique to South Korea. In the US, Figure AI, Physical Intelligence, Skild AI and Apptronik have become some of the best-known names in the sector. Their valuations have climbed into the tens of billions of dollars as global technology companies and large investment firms race to back them.

Figure AI was recently valued at about $39 billion, up from $2.6 billion in its Series B round in early 2024. Its valuation has risen by about two times in two years.

China is also seeing fierce competition in humanoid investing, centered on Unitree, AgiBot, Fourier and EngineAI. Large pools of capital are flowing into the sector as the Chinese government’s manufacturing push converges with its AI strategy. Unitree and AgiBot, both preparing for initial public offerings, are nearing expected market capitalizations of 10 trillion won ($7.17 billion).

Humanoids require intensive capital investment from the outset. Companies must train AI systems and build manufacturing facilities. Startups say they need to raise large sums as early as the Series A stage to secure the capital they need while minimizing dilution for founders.

Some venture capital investors say valuations are rising at an unsustainable pace. "Seed rounds are typically below 10 billion won, and many Series A rounds begin at 20 billion won to 30 billion won," one VC chief executive said. "It is highly unusual for startups to be valued in the hundreds of billions of won at such an early stage."

Another VC investor said the key question is whether backers will be able to exit in five to six years at prices above current levels. Over the longer term, the market could consolidate around a small number of companies that secure production orders from large corporations, such as Rainbow Robotics and Boston Dynamics.

Nam Jun-woo, Korea Economic Daily reporter, njw0825@hankyung.com