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Robotics Companies to Invest In: Public, Pre-IPO, and How to Get Exposure
Robotics companies to invest in, sorted by how you can own them: listed, heading to listing, or private. From the HardwareMap index. Not investment advice.
by the HardwareMap editors3 min read
From the HardwareMap index, REV 26.09, refreshed 3 Oct 2026
Contents
Robotics companies to invest in fall into three groups by how an investor can own them: listed shares, a pending listing, or private stock. This page sorts the HardwareMap index's robotics companies into those groups as of REV 26.09, with what each builds and its disclosed capital. It sits under top robotics companies, which ranks the same field by shipping evidence.
Ordering rule: access route first, then disclosed capital raised. This is a map of who you can own, not a ranking of who to buy.
Robotics companies to invest in on a public exchange
Three robot makers in the index trade publicly. Unitree Robotics (Hangzhou) listed on Shanghai's STAR Market in August 2026 and sells quadrupeds and humanoids at volume. UBTECH Robotics (Shenzhen) has traded in Hong Kong since December 2023 and makes humanoid and service robots. Exyn Technologies (Philadelphia) began trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market on 15 May 2026 after a $19.4 million gross offering (Exyn IPO closing, SEC filing).
Beyond the index, long-listed robot makers include Intuitive Surgical, Teradyne (owner of Universal Robots and MiR) and Symbotic. Exchanges and tickers for all of them are on the publicly traded robotics companies list.
Pre-IPO robotics companies
Two companies in the index have a listing in motion.
Agility Robotics (Salem, Oregon) agreed on 24 June 2026 to go public through a merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI, at an aggregate valuation of $2.5 billion, with the combined company expected to trade as AGLTest (Agility announcement). The deal needs shareholder and SEC approval and was pending at the time of writing. Agility builds the Digit humanoid, runs its own robot factory in Salem, and has a multi-year robots-as-a-service deployment with GXO Logistics (Agility and GXO).
Pudu Robotics (Shenzhen) makes delivery and cleaning robots for restaurants and commercial venues. Its index record notes a roughly $150 million raise in April 2026 and preparation for a Hong Kong listing; no listing date is public.
Private robotics companies: exposure without a ticker
The best-funded names in robotics are private. Figure AI (San Jose) and Neura Robotics (Metzingen) have the largest disclosed raises in the robotics category. Apptronik (Austin) and 1X Technologies (Palo Alto) build humanoids for factories and homes. In logistics, Exotec, GreyOrange and Locus Robotics have the longest customer records. Standard Bots (Glen Cove, New York) makes AI-controlled industrial arms.
Ordinary investors cannot buy these shares on an exchange. The routes that exist, secondary platforms and employee tender offers, are usually limited to accredited investors and subject to company approval. Any figure quoted for a private company's valuation comes from a round, not a market.
What the index can add is evidence. Each datasheet records the product, the hub, the last disclosed round, disclosed capital and named investors. It does not record revenue, margins or unit counts unless the company has published them, and it never estimates a valuation. A large raise is a fact about investors' expectations. A named customer with a deployed fleet is a fact about the product. The two often point in different directions, which is why the top robotics companies ranking puts shipping evidence ahead of money.
How to get exposure to robotics without picking a startup
Four indirect routes, each with its own trade-off.
- Incumbent robot makers. Arm, surgical and warehouse robot companies that have been listed for years. Lower growth, published accounts.
- Component suppliers. Every robot needs sensors, motors and compute. Listed lidar makers Hesai Technology and RoboSense sell into robots and cars alike; see AI robotics companies for the chip side.
- Robotics ETFs. Funds that hold a basket of listed automation companies. Read the holdings, not the name.
- Listed investors in private rounds. The index records NVIDIA, Amazon and Qualcomm among investors in private robot makers. Their robotics stakes are small next to their main businesses.
For how robotics startups raise and spend money in the first place, see hardware startup funding. Early-stage names are on robotics startups to watch.
Continue with Best Drone Companies to Invest In: How to Think About It.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best robotics companies to invest in?
HardwareMap does not rank investments and does not say which to buy. What the index can show is access: which robotics companies are listed, which are heading to a listing, and which are private. It also records evidence that matters to any analysis, such as shipped product, named customers and disclosed capital. Weigh those with a licensed adviser.
Can I invest in humanoid robot companies?
Publicly, only a few. Unitree Robotics trades in Shanghai and UBTECH Robotics in Hong Kong. Agility Robotics has a SPAC merger pending. Figure AI, Apptronik, 1X, Neura Robotics and Sanctuary AI are private, so ordinary investors cannot buy their shares on an exchange. Exposure to them comes indirectly, through listed investors and suppliers, if at all.
How do pre-IPO robotics investments work?
Private company shares change hands through funding rounds, employee tender offers and secondary marketplaces. In the United States most of these are limited to accredited investors, and the company can often block or restrict transfers. Prices are thin and disclosure is limited. A pending SPAC merger is different: the SPAC itself trades publicly before the merger closes.
Which listed companies give exposure to robotics startups?
Some large listed companies are investors in private robot makers. The HardwareMap index records NVIDIA, Intel Capital and Amazon among Figure AI's or Neura Robotics' investors, for example. Those stakes are small relative to the investors' own businesses, so buying their shares is not a meaningful bet on any one robotics startup.
What risks are specific to robotics companies?
Hardware takes longer and costs more to scale than software, so robotics companies often need several large rounds before revenue covers costs. Pilots do not always become fleet orders. Robots sold as a service keep the hardware on the maker's balance sheet. And timelines for general-purpose robots have slipped before. Filings and named customers are better evidence than demo videos.
HardwareMap records who builds what and who funds it. Open any company above for its datasheet and investor list.
The index
All 219 startups, filterable by category, hub, stage and funding.