Mecka AI, a startup that collects and analyzes human movement information to coach humanoid robots and other forms of robots, introduced it has raised a $60 million Series B spherical led by Sequoia, with participation from Nvidia, Microsoft’s enterprise fund M12, and others. TechCrunch had beforehand reported that the startup was nearing a brand new funding spherical at a $500 million valuation.
Based in 2024, the startup intends to do for robotics what Scale AI, Mercor, Surge, and different data-labeling firms have completed for LLMs. These firms provide the human-generated information these methods be taught from. Mecka pays folks to report themselves doing on a regular basis duties, like making espresso or fixing automobiles, whereas sporting physique sensors and utilizing smartphones.
Different startups that accumulate real-world information for robotic coaching embody XDOF, which was in talks to boost a Sequence B spherical at a $1.2 billion valuation in response to TechCrunch’s earlier reporting. Human-data platforms that started with LLMs are additionally increasing into robotics, similar to Scale AI and Micro1.
