Global venture investment in physical AI startups reached $47.4 billion across 521 deals in the first half of 2026, according to Crunchbase data, surpassing the combined total of the three preceding years. The figure marks a near fourfold increase from the $12 billion raised in H2 2025 and an 80% rise over the $26.4 billion deployed in H1 2025.
The surge was driven by megadeals in autonomous systems, robotics and aerospace. Waymo secured a $16 billion Series D in February, led by Alphabet, Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global and Sequoia Capital, valuing the company at $126 billion. Anduril Industries raised $5 billion in May at a $61 billion valuation, doubling its prior valuation of $30.5 billion. Shield AI completed a $2 billion Series G in March, co-led by Advent International and JPMorgan Chase, bringing its valuation to $12.7 billion.
Industrial automation and defense-focused startups also attracted significant capital. Saronic, an Austin-based defense technology firm, closed a $1.75 billion Series D in March led by Kleiner Perkins, lifting its total funding to $2.6 billion and valuation to $9.25 billion, more than double its 2025 Series C level.
Exits in the sector reflected the funding momentum. SpaceX listed in June at a $1.77 trillion valuation after raising $75 billion, while space intelligence company HawkEye 360 debuted publicly with a $416 million raise. Autonomous drone maker Aevex also went public with a $320 million offering. In M&A, Mobileye acquired humanoid robotics startup Mentee Robotics for approximately $900 million.
Investors cite falling hardware costs, improved AI infrastructure and the availability of multimodal technology as key enablers. Ryan Ziegler, general partner at Edison Partners, noted that modern smartphones now incorporate LIDAR sensors, making spatial mapping more accessible. He highlighted companies with "attractive unit economics, large deal values and multi-year deployments," whose proprietary datasets appreciate over time.
Joe Fath, partner and head of growth at Eclipse Capital, emphasized that "tech barriers are plummeting, experienced talent is pouring in, and market demand is rising." He described physical AI as "intelligence embedded in systems that perceive, reason and act in the real world," favoring investments in supporting infrastructure such as chips, compute, energy and data centers over standalone large-language-model providers.
