03 November 2026 | News
Image Courtesy: Public Domain
Humanoid Global Holdings Corp. (“Humanoid Global” or the “Company”), a publicly traded investment issuer focused on building and accelerating a portfolio of pioneering companies in the humanoid robotics and embodied AI sector, reports that its portfolio company Formic Technologies, Inc. (“Formic”), in which Humanoid Global holds a minority equity interest, has announced that it has raised US$50 million in growth capital (the “Financing”). According to Formic, the Financing comprises a Series B equity round led by Mercato Partners (“Mercato”), with participation from Light Ray Ventures, Lightscape Partners, Citi and other new and existing investors, together with debt financing from S2G Investments.
Formic, which describes itself as the commercialization platform for physical AI, delivers robotic automation to U.S. manufacturers through a Robots-as-a-Service model that bundles equipment, deployment software, field operations, maintenance, financing and performance monitoring into a single recurring monthly payment, with no upfront capital required from the customer. According to Formic, proceeds from the Financing will be used to accelerate its expansion from task-specific automation into general-purpose robotics, strengthen its AI and robotics capabilities, and expand into new applications such as metal fabrication, while deepening its presence in aerospace, space, defense, medical, energy and the broader U.S. industrial base.
According to Formic, it has operated robots in live production for more than five years and now runs hundreds of robots across more than 100 facilities in over 30 states, having accumulated more than 750,000 hours of live production. Formic reports fleet uptime of 99.6% and a customer renewal rate of 97%, with applications spanning palletizing, case packing, machine tending, kitting and assist work across food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, chemicals, aerospace, defense and packaging. Formic also reports that it now deploys robots into production approximately three times faster than it did a year ago, as data from each deployment informs subsequent installations.
Formic has stated that, as part of its move into general-purpose robotics, it is working with Physical Intelligence to adapt Physical Intelligence’s robotic foundation models for manufacturing applications using Formic’s production data and operational expertise. Formic assembles and tests its robots at its facility in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and develops new capabilities at its R&D center in Oakland, California. In connection with the Financing, Ryan Sanders, Managing Director at Mercato, has joined Formic’s Board of Directors.
Commenting on the Financing, Saman Farid, founder and CEO of Formic, noted that the gap between building a capable robot and making it productive on a real factory floor remains the industry’s central challenge, and that Formic is now extending its platform “from task-specific automation to general-purpose robotics.” He added that the model allows manufacturers to grow domestic output without committing significant capital to automation.
“Formic’s Series B is an encouraging validation of our investment thesis and of the value we believe exists in the deployment layer of physical AI,” said Sunny Ray, CEO of Humanoid Global. “A syndicate that includes Mercato Partners and Citi is backing a business with a meaningful operating record: hundreds of robots in live production, 99.6% uptime and a 97% renewal rate. As Formic extends its platform into general-purpose and humanoid robotics, we believe it has the potential to become an important channel through which embodied AI reaches American factory floors, and we are pleased that this progress is reflected in the value of our position.”
Humanoid Global previously announced a strategic investment in Formic as part of its mandate to support platforms that accelerate the adoption of autonomous robotics in manufacturing. The Company continues to view Formic as a core holding within its portfolio and consistent with its long-term thesis that commercialization and deployment infrastructure will be important to supporting widescale adoption of humanoid robotics, service robotics and orchestration technologies across key industrial markets.
