1X Technologies
Norwegian-American humanoid-robotics (HQ Palo Alto, manufacturing Moss Norway and Hayward California) company building general-purpose home and commercial robots — NEO (the $20,000 home humanoid) and EVE (commercial humanoid); backed by OpenAI’s Startup Fund and Samsung, with a December 2025 EQT strategic partnership deploying up to 10,000 humanoid robots across EQT’s global portfolio companies.
The Business
1X Technologies is a Norwegian-American humanoid-robotics (HQ Palo Alto, manufacturing Moss Norway and Hayward California) company building general-purpose home and commercial humanoid robots — NEO (the $20,000 home humanoid opened for pre-orders October 28, 2025) and EVE (commercial humanoid). Founded in 2014 by Norwegian roboticist Bernt Øivind Børnich (originally as Halodi Robotics, rebranded 1X in 2022), the company is anchored by the OpenAI Startup Fund as a principal strategic investor and has raised cumulatively approximately $125M+ in confirmed capital through the 2024 $100M round from EQT Ventures and Samsung. In September 2025, Tech Startups and Sifted reported 1X was raising up to $1B at a $10B valuation, more than twelve times the prior valuation; that round had not closed at time of writing per public sources. In December 2025, 1X announced a strategic partnership with EQT to make up to 10,000 humanoid robots available to EQT’s global portfolio companies — the principal commercial-channel signal across the post-2024 cycle. NEO deliveries are planned for 2026, with the early launch coverage emphasising the teleoperation-required “human in the loop” feature that operates households remotely.
Customers and Distribution
1X’s distribution sits across two principal motions: the consumer-home NEO channel (pre-orders opened October 28, 2025 at $20,000 per unit with 2026 deliveries) and the commercial-deployment EVE channel anchored by the December 2025 EQT strategic partnership (up to 10,000 humanoid robots across EQT’s global portfolio companies). Named customer disclosures are concentrated in the EQT partnership announcement at this stage; the consumer NEO pre-order base is private. The P3c GTM-maturity sub-rubric was held at 7 in the v1.6ep pass on the EQT commercial-channel signal and the NEO pre-order traction; the P1d time-to-revenue sub-rubric was held at 7 on the 2026-shipment-cycle profile.
Model Strategy
1X is a Verticals-first generative-AI play applied to embodied AI: the strategic bet is that vertically-integrated humanoid hardware combined with an in-house general-purpose AI policy stack beats horizontal foundation-model agents on the embodied-AI surface. The AI policy approach is built in-house under Chief AI Officer Eric Jang (previously a senior researcher at Google Brain on the robot-learning team) and combines large-scale data collection from the deployed humanoid fleet with learned-policy training. The D4a supplier-diversity sub-rubric was held at 5 in the v1.6ep pass on the in-house policy stack; the OpenAI Startup Fund backing is a strategic-investor signal rather than a foundation-model supplier relationship in the conventional sense. Above the hardware-and-policy stack, the principal differentiator is the consumer-home form factor (NEO at $20,000 targeting consumer households) combined with the commercial-deployment flywheel under the EQT partnership. The D1c portability sub-rubric was held at 5 in the v1.6ep pass on the vertically-integrated hardware-and-AI moat.
At A Glance
The Numbers
Annualised revenue
Units deployed
Headcount (FTE)
Funding to date
Leadership Team
1X Technologies is founder-led with Bernt Børnich in the CEO role since founding in 2014 (originally as Halodi Robotics, rebranded to 1X in 2022). Eric Jang as Chief AI Officer is the principal public-facing technical leadership voice on the general-purpose AI policy approach. CFO, CRO and full C-suite appointments are not separately publicly named at time of writing. The OpenAI Startup Fund backing (the principal strategic-investor signal across the round set) is the meaningful continuity signal for the AI-policy strategic direction.
IM Framework Scoring
IM’s structured assessment of 1X Technologies’s competitive position. The summary below is the headline; expand “Show the full analyst-grade analysis” near the bottom for the per-dimension reasoning and evidence. Methodology →
Funding History
| Date | Round | Raised | Post-money | Lead investor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Talks — $1B raise (unconfirmed) | ~$1B | ~$10B | undisclosed |
| 2024 | Series B | $100M | — | EQT Ventures & Samsung |
| 2023 | Series A | $23.5M | — | OpenAI Startup Fund & Tiger Global |
| 2022 | Earlier | undisclosed | — | undisclosed |
Cumulative external capital is approximately $125M+ confirmed through the 2024 $100M round led by EQT Ventures and Samsung, with prior backing from OpenAI Startup Fund (a principal strategic anchor) and Tiger Global. In September 2025, Tech Startups and Sifted reported 1X was raising up to $1B at a $10B valuation, more than twelve times the prior valuation; that round had not closed at time of writing per public sources. The December 2025 EQT strategic partnership commits to making up to 10,000 humanoid robots available to EQT’s portfolio companies, a commercial-channel signal rather than a funding round. Round-by-round figures from 1X’s own press releases, Tech Startups, Sifted, TechCrunch and BusinessWire coverage.
Competitive Landscape
1X Technologies’ competitive set sits in three concentric rings: the symmetric AI-native humanoid-robotics startups (Figure AI on the BMW commercial-deployment surface with $1.5B+ capital and $39.5B valuation, Apptronik on Mercedes/GXO/John Deere commercial deployments with $935M+ raised at $5B); the hyperscaler-of-humanoids long-horizon competitor (Tesla Optimus with Tesla manufacturing scale and brand distribution); and the established robotics heritage competitors (Boston Dynamics with Atlas under Hyundai Motor Group, Agility Robotics with Digit on warehouse logistics). 1X is unusual in the set because the home-humanoid form factor (NEO at $20,000 targeting consumer households, with the EQT commercial partnership as the near-term flywheel) positions 1X uniquely against competitors that are dominantly commercial-deployment-focused at this stage.
| Competitor | Positioning | Distribution edge | Threat profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Figure AI | Bay-area humanoid-robotics company with $1.5B+ raised, $39.5B valuation in 2025 and BMW factory deployments. The principal AI-native humanoid-robotics competitor on the commercial-deployment surface, with Microsoft, NVIDIA, Bezos Expeditions and OpenAI (exited) among the investor cohort. | Direct enterprise partnerships with BMW (assembly-line deployments) and the broader automotive-and-manufacturing customer base; OpenAI partnership previously, now operating its own foundation-model approach. | High — structurally symmetric AI-native humanoid-robotics play with materially larger capital base and Bay-area distribution. |
| Tesla Optimus (Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA)) |
Tesla’s humanoid-robotics program targeting general-purpose home and commercial humanoid robots; Elon Musk has framed Optimus as Tesla’s largest long-horizon product opportunity. | Tesla’s manufacturing and direct-to-consumer distribution at scale; the broader Tesla brand-and-channel infrastructure. | High — the principal hyperscaler-of-humanoids competitor with materially deeper manufacturing capability; long-horizon competitive substitution risk that depends on Tesla’s execution cadence. |
| Apptronik | Austin-based humanoid-robotics company building Apollo for commercial deployments (Mercedes-Benz, GXO Logistics, John Deere, Jabil partnerships). $935M+ raised through the February 2026 $520M Series A extension at $5B valuation. | Direct enterprise commercial partnerships across automotive, logistics and CPG; B Capital, Google, Mercedes-Benz, Peak6, AT&T Ventures and John Deere investor cohort. | High — structurally symmetric humanoid-robotics play on the commercial-deployment surface; the principal head-to-head where commercial-customer credibility matters. |
| Boston Dynamics (Hyundai Motor Group) |
The category-defining robotics company (Spot, Stretch, Atlas) with Hyundai backing; Atlas is the established humanoid platform with deep technical heritage. | Direct enterprise sales across manufacturing, defence and adjacent commercial deployments; Hyundai-portfolio commercial-customer integration. | Medium-High — legacy heritage competitor on the humanoid surface; less aggressive on the consumer-home positioning where 1X’s NEO competes. |
| Agility Robotics | US-based humanoid-robotics company building Digit for warehouse and logistics deployments; commercial customers including Amazon and GXO Logistics. | Direct enterprise commercial partnerships across logistics and warehouse operators. | Medium — flanking competitor on the commercial-warehouse surface; narrower on consumer-home positioning where 1X’s NEO is the principal play. |
Pricing benchmark: 1X has disclosed NEO at $20,000 for consumer home pre-orders (October 2025 disclosure), with the EQT commercial partnership economics undisclosed at the per-unit level. Figure AI, Tesla Optimus, Apptronik and the broader humanoid cohort have not generally disclosed per-unit consumer-pricing publicly — the broader benchmarks frame humanoid robots in the $50,000-$100,000+ commercial-deployment range. The competitive frame is therefore consumer-form-factor positioning plus commercial-pilot deployment economics rather than headline per-unit price; 1X’s $20,000 NEO price-point is materially below the commercial-deployment-cost framing of competitors.
Potential Risks
The case for 1X Technologies at IM Framework 6.52 rests on the OpenAI Startup Fund strategic-investor anchor, the 2024 $100M EQT Ventures and Samsung backing, the NEO home humanoid form factor at $20,000 targeting a consumer market with no scale precedent, the December 2025 EQT 10,000-robot commercial partnership flywheel, and the long-horizon embodied-AI thesis under Eric Jang’s general-purpose AI policy leadership. The case against splits into five risks of differing magnitude — with consumer-hardware structural challenge at humanoid scale the most structural, symmetric competitor substitution from Figure AI / Apptronik / Tesla Optimus the most active, the capital-position gap the most watched, regulatory exposure on consumer humanoid robots the most policy-driven, and the foundation-model supplier and policy framework the most adjacent.
Consumer-hardware structural challenge at humanoid scale
1X’s NEO is being positioned for consumer-home deployment at a $20,000 price point. The October 2025 launch coverage highlighted that NEO requires teleoperation in early deployments — a human-in-the-loop feature that operates households remotely while NEO does chores. This is a structural challenge to the consumer-home framing: the bull case is that the deployed fleet provides the data flywheel for autonomous capability; the bear case is that consumer-home humanoids at $20,000 with teleoperation backing introduce safety, privacy and consumer-acceptance variables that have no precedent at scale.
Symmetric competitor substitution
Figure AI ($1.5B+ raised, $39.5B valuation, BMW commercial deployment), Apptronik ($935M+ raised, $5B valuation, Mercedes/GXO/John Deere commercial deployments) and Tesla Optimus (Tesla manufacturing scale, brand distribution) are all structurally symmetric AI-native humanoid-robotics competitors with materially larger capital bases than 1X’s confirmed $100M-plus funding. The principal active variable is the cadence at which Figure AI and Apptronik scale commercial deployments while 1X depends on the NEO home-humanoid 2026 ship cadence and the EQT commercial partnership flywheel.
Capital-position gap relative to peers
1X’s confirmed cumulative external capital approximately $125M+ (through the 2024 $100M EQT/Samsung round) is materially smaller than Figure AI’s $1.5B+ and Apptronik’s $935M+. The September 2025 talks at $1B / $10B valuation would close the gap if confirmed; pending the round closing, the absolute-capital position is a meaningful structural risk. The D4d capital-position sub-rubric was held at 8 in the v1.6ep pass on the OpenAI Startup Fund strategic-investor anchor and the EQT/Samsung strategic backing rather than the absolute-capital number.
Regulatory exposure on consumer humanoid robots
Consumer-home humanoid robots at scale introduce safety, privacy and consumer-acceptance variables with no precedent at scale. The D4c regulatory-exposure sub-rubric was held at 3 in the v1.6ep pass on the early-stage regulatory framing of consumer humanoids in homes. Active variables include EU AI Act high-risk-AI obligations as they apply to consumer-AI robotics, US FCC and consumer-product safety framing, and any incident at a consumer deployment that becomes a brand-defining event.
Foundation-model supplier and policy framework
1X’s general-purpose AI policy approach to humanoid control combines large-scale data collection from the deployed fleet with learned-policy training. The OpenAI Startup Fund backing is a strategic-investor signal but the policy framework is built in-house under Eric Jang’s leadership. The D4a supplier-diversity sub-rubric was held at 5 in the v1.6ep pass on the in-house policy stack. The bull case is that the in-house AI policy approach plus the deployed-fleet data flywheel creates a durable embodied-AI moat; the bear case is that as foundation-model providers ship better embodied-AI models (OpenAI itself, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, NVIDIA Isaac GR00T), the in-house policy approach is structurally challenged to keep pace.
Recent IM Coverage
- AI Tracker — Horizontal AI Applications cohort May 2026.
- IM Framework Methodology — v1.6ep scoring approach. May 2026.
Show recent press coverage of 1X Technologies
- Dec 2025 — 1X struck a deal to send its “home” humanoids to factories and warehouses.
- Dec 2025 — 1X Announces Strategic Partnership to Make up to 10,000 Humanoid Robots Available to EQT’s Global Portfolio.
- Sep 2025 — Norway’s 1X raising $1B at $10B valuation to bring humanoid robot NEO into homes.
- 2025 — OpenAI-backed startup aims to deliver in-home humanoid robots in 2026.
- Oct 2025 — 1X’s $20,000 NEO Humanoid Robot Launches With A Catch: It Needs Humans To Do Your Chores.
- 2025 — 1X — Home Robots (company homepage).
- 2025 — Report: 1X Business Breakdown & Founding Story.
Curated feed of named-source coverage — 1X’s own homepage and press cycle, BusinessWire for the December 2025 EQT strategic partnership, and named-author technology and business press (TechCrunch, Tech Startups, Sifted, Contrary Research). We exclude PR-wire reposts of the same release, aggregator round-up pieces and Tracxn/PitchBook subscription summaries. The Bloomberg coverage of the EQT partnership is paywalled and referenced by headline only. The September 2025 $1B / $10B valuation reporting is referenced as in-talks at time of writing pending confirmation of a closed round.
Show the source register for the figures on this page
IM operates a primary-source-where-possible discipline. The figures above come from:
- Revenue: 1X Technologies does not publicly disclose ARR or precise revenue figures. The October 2025 NEO pre-order launch at $20,000 per unit is the principal published consumer-pricing signal, with 2026 deliveries planned. The December 2025 EQT 10,000-robot strategic partnership is the principal commercial-channel signal, with per-unit economics undisclosed. We decline-to-publish a precise revenue figure and reference the 1X homepage as the canonical entry point.
- Pre-orders & commercial-deployment signals: 1X opened pre-orders for NEO on October 28, 2025 at $20,000 per unit, with 2026 deliveries planned per the named-press coverage. The December 11, 2025 EQT strategic partnership announcement commits to making up to 10,000 humanoid robots available to EQT’s global portfolio companies — the principal commercial-channel disclosure across the post-2024 cycle.
- Headcount (basis-disclosure note): 1X does not separately disclose total headcount in a primary filing. The team is anchored across the Norwegian hardware engineering office (Halodi Robotics origin) and the Sunnyvale, California AI policy and US-facing GTM office. We decline-to-publish a precise headcount figure and reference the company homepage as the canonical entry point.
- Funding to date: Cumulative external capital approximately $125M+ confirmed through the 2024 $100M round from EQT Ventures and Samsung, with prior backing from OpenAI Startup Fund and Tiger Global. The September 2025 Tech Startups coverage and Sifted profile report 1X raising up to $1B at a $10B valuation; that round had not closed at time of writing per public sources. We hold cumulative confirmed capital at $125M+ pending confirmation of the $1B round closing.
Methodology & Disclaimer
For metric definitions, source-tier hierarchy, and decline-to-publish rules, see the tracker methodology. Confidence dots (• green / • amber / • red) follow the same convention as the AI Tracker.
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Information Matters Framework scores are the considered opinion of the IM team — human and AI — applied to publicly-available evidence under a disclosed methodology. They are not statements of fact about the companies scored and they are not investment advice.
