Dyna Robotics has closed a $23.5 million seed round, co-led by CRV and First Round Capital. The startup says to was to “bring embodied AI into the real world with cost-effective, easy to deploy robots for businesses of all sizes”.
Dyna’s robots master one task at a time, starting with tasks like folding and food preparation that can be done using an affordable pair of stationary robotic arms.
This allows embodied AI models to learn and improve in production environments as the company works toward the ultimate goal of achieving general-purpose embodied AI.
Lindon Gao, Dyna Robotics co-founder and CEO says: “Across sizes and industries, companies have tasks they would readily offload to robots if the right solutions existed at the right price points. Despite thriving language, image, and video models, embodied AI still hasn’t ‘cracked the code’.
“Robotics foundation models require vast, high-fidelity datasets in the real-world, but real-world data is scarce and simulations alone can’t fully capture our complex physical environment.
“We’re collecting extensive, task-specific data – for everything from packaging to cleaning toilets – and landing commercial value by delivering practical solutions while systematically advancing embodied AI.”
Bill Trenchard, partner at First Round Capital, says: “Dyna Robotics is tackling one of the biggest hurdles for AI robot adoption: cost. A single humanoid robot can cost over six-figures – if it’s even on the market.
“By focusing on tasks achievable with an affordable pair of stationary arms, Dyna Robotics is reducing complexity and lowering costs, which allows them to deliver real value to customers now. We believe their strategy will accelerate embodied AI development and adoption.”
Dyna Robotics draws on its founders’ deep experience in leading cutting-edge AI and robotics research and deployment, pushing the frontier of AI-powered hardware while making it useful for customers.
Co-founders Lindon Gao and York Yang are repeat founders who built and exited Caper AI for $350 million, bringing AI to retailers through smart carts. Today, Caper AI’s smart carts are being used by grocery stores around the world.
Third co-founder Jason Ma, a former DeepMind research scientist, has focused his career on developing foundation models for robotics, leading several novel breakthrough algorithms that enabled robots to learn complex real-world skills at scale.
His work has been recognized by ICRA, CORL, ICML, and other prestigious organizations and publications.
Max Gazor, general partner at CRV, says: “Dyna Robotics’ three founders combine pioneering research expertise with real world experience and a focus on bringing new technology to market.
“Execution is everything and they’ve proven their abilities. Dyna Robotics will unlock a ton of productivity and potential with embodied AI robots which is why we’re excited to partner with this team.”
