‘Digit’ maker Agility Robotics to go public with $2.5B deal – here’s what documents say about its funding – GeekWire
Salem, Ore.-based Agility Robotics, whose two-legged Digit robots have been tested inside Amazon warehouses, will become the first publicly traded US company dedicated solely to humanoid robots, beating out its Silicon Valley and East Coast rivals on Wall Street.
The company, led by former Microsoft and Magic Leap executive Peggy Johnson, will go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC — remember those? – called Churchill Capital Corp XI, founded by financier Michael Klein.
Digit is a two-legged robot, about 5-foot-9, built to operate in human-designed environments. Lifts 35 pounds and handles repetitive tasks such as moving toys and maintenance equipment 20 hours a day. The upcoming Digit v5 adds flexible hands, the ability to lift 50 pounds, and safety systems intended to allow it to work around people without obstacles.
“What this is going to do is help us accelerate the client engagement that we have right now — a long list of clients that are looking to fill a labor shortage,” Johnson said on CNBC.
Financial details: The merger values Agility at $2.5 billion and is expected to provide more than $620 million in capital to fund its growth. That includes about $420 million of the money Churchill raised from public investors and about $200 million from a group led by the giant Foxconn.
The first filing released about the deal doesn’t reveal Agility’s revenue, and shows the company remains unprofitable. Its operating expenses rose to $111 million by 2025 from $71 million a year earlier, and it burned nearly $100 million, according to figures Agility describes as preliminary and unaudited.
The filing cites more than $300 million in multi-year “committed” orders for the next-generation Digit v5. But the fine print acknowledges that the figure is “not an estimate of current revenue,” that it depends on the company hitting certain milestones, and that it comes from a three-year contract for 1,000 robots, placed by an anonymous customer.
Agility has raised more than $390 million in equity since it was founded in 2015, according to an investor presentation made public Wednesday in connection with the deal.
More detailed financial disclosures, including revenue and profits, usually come later in the SPAC process and filing known as Form S-4. Agility is expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker “AGLT” once the deal closes, which the companies expect by the end of 2026.
Active posting: Agility says Digit is currently being used by customers including auto-parts giant Schaeffler, transportation provider GXO, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada and Latin American e-commerce giant Mercado Libre, with more than 65,000 hours of real-world operation worldwide.
Amazon, a long-time investor in Agility, has operated several Digit pilots, including one it sees in 2023 at an Amazon warehouse in Sumner, Wash., south of Seattle.
Asked if Amazon is an active Digit customer, an Agility spokesperson said Wednesday morning, “We’ve been working closely with Amazon since they invested in 2022 and have completed several pilots with them. We look forward to working with them again when we launch the next generation of our robot, which will be the first collaboratively safe humanoid.”
Agility is beating a field of better-funded rivals in the public markets, including Silicon Valley’s Figure AI, valued at $39 billion after raising more than $1 billion last year, and Massachusetts-based Boston Dynamics, the Hyundai-owned maker of the Atlas humanoid.
Elon Musk’s Tesla is also developing its Optimus robot, but within a public company, not as a humanoid robot company.
The company this week was the first to adopt NVIDIA’s recently announced Halos safety system for robots, part of the company’s push to deploy humanoid robots that can work alongside humans without safety barriers.
Agility is currently #5 on the GeekWire 200, our ranking of the Pacific Northwest’s top privately held technology startups. It will be graduated from the list when it officially goes public.
