Lyte raises $165m and multiple large robotics funding rounds announced in 2026
Series C financing for Lyte and sizable investments in Motion, Sharpa, and Xpeng illustrate growing capital for physical AI and humanoid robot platforms, alongside Y Combinator directories of AI and biotech startups.
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Robotics
Lyte, a physical‑AI company founded by former Apple and PrimeSense engineers, closed a $165 million Series C round at a $1.6 billion post‑money valuation, bringing total capital to $272 million. The round was co‑led by Maverick Silicon with participation from Fidelity Management & Research, Atreides Management, Key1 Capital, Ora Global and existing backer Exor Ventures. Lyte’s flagship LyteVision platform integrates 4D sensing, RGB imaging, motion awareness and custom silicon to give robots precise, real‑time perception, initially targeting warehousing and manufacturing customers [1][4].
Sharpa secured more than RMB 4.5 billion (approximately $668 million) in a financing round that values the Chinese robotics firm at RMB 22 billion ($3.3 billion). Investors include Alibaba Group, Meituan, Tencent, JD.com, Transsion and venture firms HSG, Qiming Venture Partners, DragonBall Capital and Luminous Ventures. The capital will accelerate R&D, recruit talent and shift Sharpa’s general‑purpose, dexterous‑manipulation robots from technical validation toward commercial deployment, exemplified by a fully autonomous 55‑step dessert‑making workflow at a Shanghai Dairy Queen outlet [3].
Xpeng’s robotics division announced financing agreements totalling more than $900 million, led by IDG Capital with Gaorong Ventures, Tencent and Alibaba as strategic investors, valuing the unit at over $6.3 billion. The proceeds are earmarked for further hardware and software development, construction of end‑to‑end manufacturing facilities and commercialisation of its Iron humanoid robot. Series production is slated for the end of 2026 for use in Xpeng stores, with a broader market launch planned for 2027, leveraging the automaker’s supply‑chain expertise and in‑house chips delivering up to 2,250 TOPS of compute [5].
Genetic Engineering
Typewriter announced a $56 million financing round in September 2026 to develop technology based on “jumping genes”—mobile genetic elements capable of inserting full genes into human cells—and to pursue in vivo CAR‑T therapies that engineer immune cells directly inside the body. The capital will support the creation of gene‑insertion tools that go beyond conventional editing, aiming to broaden the range of diseases addressable by gene‑based treatments [2].