Dyna Robotics Secures $120 Million from Nvidia, Samsung, and Amazon to Bring General-Purpose Robots to Market

Dyna Robotics, the startup behind the Dynamism v1 (DYNA-1) robot, has raised $120 million in new funding. The Series A investment round was led by Robostrategy, CRV, and First Round Capital, with participation from Salesforce Ventures, Nvidia’s venture arm NVentures, Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Samsung Next, and LG Technology Ventures. The company disclosed it will use the new capital to help accelerate the delivery of commercial-grade general-purpose robots.

Founded by Lindon Gao, York Yang, and former DeepMind research scientist Jason Ma, Dyna Robotics aims to have robots complete tasks at human-level speed. It estimates that it currently stands at around 60 to 70 percent, but one day it could match or surpass what we can do—something the team equates to physical AGI. But unlike its peers, such as Nvidia, Physical Intelligence, Covariant, Figure AI, and 1X Technologies, Dyna isn’t developing humanoid robots. Instead, it’s working on simple hardware with a stationary arm that’s capable of doing one or more tasks repetitively and effectively.

“Right now, three forces are colliding at once: AI breakthroughs are maturing, hardware is accelerating, and the demand for labor has never been higher,” Yang says in a statement. “That convergence has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Dyna has made rapid progress over 12 months, and we believe our ultimate goal, achieving physical AGI, is not far off.”

When specifically will so-called physical AGI be achieved? It’s best to heed such statements with a grain of salt. Experts have long predicted AGI’s arrival, yet there’s still no consensus on when it might appear—or even what form it would take.

Nevertheless, Dyna has now raised nearly $144 million for its mission and seems to have made good progress. Since unveiling DYNA-1 and its subsequent AI foundation model in April, the company has deployed robots in hotels, restaurants, laundromats, and gyms, all of which operate 16 hours a day.

The inclusion of large electronics manufacturers and tech companies in this round is notable because it validates Dyna’s approach, signaling that its robotics technology has significant potential. It’s feasible that the startup’s machines could be integrated into factory floors to assist with component installation or order fulfillment. Alternatively, these new investors could also be interested in the progress Dyna is making in robotics and AI, potentially eyeing the inclusion of the models in their own robotics to improve performance.

“A strong foundation model is key to scalable distribution,” Gao remarked. “Our models continuously improve with each customer deployment, generating high-quality data. We are observing true generalization as our robot enters new environments; it simply works out of the box, with no additional data.”

Dyna’s funding round was first reported by The Information in early September, which noted that the startup was considering investment offers valuing it at $600 million. The company has not disclosed its current valuation.

Featured Image: Credit: Dyna Robotics