Kyle Vogt, the former CEO of self-driving car company Cruise, has raised $150 million for his new venture, The Bot Company, in a funding round led by Greenoaks, valuing the robotics startup at $2 billion, sources told Reuters.
The company, founded less than a year ago by Vogt and former Tesla and Cruise engineers, aims to develop AI-powered, non-humanoid household robots.
This latest investment follows an earlier $150 million round from backers such as Spark Capital and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, which had valued the firm at $550 million.
The rise of large language models (LLMs) has fueled renewed interest in robotics, enabling machines to process natural language and execute complex, adaptive tasks. The Bot Company’s focus on home robotics positions it against industry giants like Amazon, whose Astro robot has targeted domestic assistance.
Meanwhile, humanoid robotics firms such as Tesla’s Optimus and Figure are raising billions, competing to bring intelligent automation to factories and households.
Venture capital funding for robotics reached $6.1 billion last year, up 19% from 2023, per PitchBook.
So, what’s going on here? Let’s break it down, piece by piece, and figure out why investors are throwing money at this like it’s the next big thing.
First off, who’s Kyle Vogt? If you’re not a tech nerd, you might not know him, but he’s kind of a big deal.
He co-founded Cruise back in 2013, turned it into a leader in self-driving cars, and sold it to GM for a reported $1 billion in 2016.
Before that, he helped create Twitch, the gaming streaming platform that Amazon snapped up. Now, he’s teamed up with two other brainiacs, Paril Jain, a former Tesla AI whiz, and Luke Holoubek, a software guru from Cruise, to start The Bot Company in May 2024.
Less than a year later, on March 21, 2025, Reuters reported this new funding round, which follows an earlier $150 million raise that valued the company at $550 million. That’s a wild jump from $550 million to $2 billion in just 10 months!
The money’s coming from Greenoaks, a San Francisco-based investment firm that’s got a knack for spotting winners. They’ve backed companies like Flipkart and Deliveroo, and now they’re betting big on Vogt’s vision.
But what exactly are they betting on?
The Bot Company is working on robots, specifically, at-home robots designed to tackle chores like cleaning or laundry so you don’t have to. Vogt himself hinted at this on LinkedIn last May, saying, “We’re building bots that do chores so you don’t have to. Everyone is busy. Bots can help.”
Cool, right? But here’s the kicker: we don’t know much about these robots yet. Sources say they’re not humanoid, no little Wall-E lookalikes here, but more like rolling bases with grippers, maybe a souped-up Roomba with extra tricks.
Why this matters: The AI-robotics boom
So why are investors so excited about a company with no products or profits?
It’s all about the bigger picture, and trust me, it’s a fascinating one. Robotics is having a moment, and it’s thanks to something called large language models, or LLMs. These are the same AI systems behind ChatGPT, and they’re super smart at understanding and generating human language.
Now, picture this: stick that kind of brain in a robot, and suddenly it can take commands like “fold the laundry” or “clean the kitchen” and figure out how to do it.
That’s a game-changer. It’s moving robots from stiff, pre-programmed machines to flexible helpers that can learn on the fly.
Research backs this up. A 2023 study from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory found that integrating LLMs into robotics improved task performance by 30% compared to traditional methods, because the robots could adapt to new instructions without needing a total reprogramming.
That’s huge for homes, where every chore is a little different. And the money’s following the science, PitchBook says venture capitalists pumped $6.1 billion into robotics startups in 2024, a 19% jump from 2023.
The Bot Company’s $2 billion valuation is riding this wave, betting that AI-powered robots are about to invade our living rooms in the best way possible.
The Bot Company’s first funding round in May 2024 brought in $150 million from heavy hitters like Spark Capital and Nat Friedman, ex-CEO of GitHub. That valued them at $550 million after the money was added, what’s called a “post-money” valuation.
Fast forward to March 2025, and this new $150 million from Greenoaks has pushed them to $2 billion post-money. If you do the math, that means before this latest round, they were worth about $1.85 billion, a massive leap in less than a year.
For context, that’s like your house going from $500,000 to $2 million in 10 months.
Crazy, right? It shows investors think something big is brewing, even if we can’t see it yet.
The Bot Company isn’t alone in this robot race.
Tesla’s working on Optimus, a humanoid bot meant for all-purpose tasks, think of it as a sci-fi dream from Elon Musk.
Then there’s Figure, another startup chasing a $40 billion valuation for its humanoid robots, even though it’s got little revenue too. On the non-humanoid side, Cobot, started by an Amazon vet, nabbed $146 million for industrial bots, and Amazon itself has Astro, a home robot launched in 2021 that’s now focusing solely on households after ditching its business version.
Plus, startups like Physical Intelligence and 1x are raking in hundreds of millions to build bots for laundry and cleaning. It’s a crowded field, and everyone’s trying to crack the code for the perfect home helper.
Now, let’s pump the brakes a bit. A $2 billion valuation sounds awesome, but there’s a flip side.
The Bot Company hasn’t shipped a single robot or made a penny, which makes this a risky bet. Tech history is littered with overhyped startups that crashed and burned, remember Theranos? Some folks on X are skeptical too.
A post from @TechBit on March 22, 2025, said, “$2B for a company with no product? Bubble vibes,” echoing a worry that we might be in another tech bubble. And building robots isn’t cheap or easy, hardware’s tricky, and making them safe and reliable for homes is a tall order.
Amazon’s Astro, for example, costs $1,599 and still struggles with basic tasks, per user reviews on their site.
Vogt’s keeping quiet for now, both The Bot Company and Greenoaks declined to comment to Reuters.
But his LinkedIn post from last May gives us a peek: “Everyone is busy. Bots can help.” It’s a simple pitch, and it’s resonating. Meanwhile, the buzz on X is real. @TechNews24h tweeted on March 22, “Kyle Vogt’s Bot Company jumps from $550M to $2B valuation in months, robotics is the new gold rush.”
Another user, @RobotFanatic, posted, “Non-humanoid bots might beat humanoids to market, less complex, more practical.” No official expert quotes here, but the chatter shows people are watching closely.
Greenoaks isn’t new to this game. They’ve got a track record of picking winners, and they’re not afraid of big swings. Just this week, they’re set to make $2 billion from a $300 million stake in Wiz, a cybersecurity firm sold to Google for $32 billion, per Reuters.
They’ve also backed Mytra, another robotics startup focused on industrial jobs. Clearly, they see robotics, and The Bot Company, as part of a tech revolution. Their bet is that Vogt’s crew, with their self-driving and AI chops, can pull this off.
So, where does this leave us?
The Bot Company’s $2 billion valuation is a sign that robotics, powered by AI, might be the next frontier.
If they deliver, we could be looking at a future where robots handle the grunt work, giving us more time for, well, living. But it’s not a sure thing, competition’s fierce, and the tech’s gotta work.
For now, all eyes are on Vogt and his team to see if they can turn this hype into reality.
One thing’s for sure: the robot revolution is heating up, and it’s going to be a wild ride.
