Mecka AI, a startup that collects and analyzes human movement information to coach humanoid robots and different kinds of robots, introduced it has raised a $60 million Collection 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 finished for LLMs. These firms provide the human-generated information these programs be taught from. Mecka pays folks to document themselves doing on a regular basis duties, like making espresso or fixing automobiles, whereas carrying physique sensors and utilizing smartphones.
Different startups that gather real-world information for robotic coaching embrace XDOF, which was in talks to boost a Collection B spherical at a $1.2 billion valuation in accordance with TechCrunch’s earlier reporting. Human-data platforms that started with LLMs are additionally increasing into robotics, corresponding to Scale AI and Micro1.
