Mercedes-Benz is taking a stake in Apptronik as it plans to expand the use of the Texas firm’s humanoid robots on its production lines.
Apptronik just announced it secured an additional $53 million, bringing the total raised during its latest Series A funding round to $403 million. Mercedes-Benz joined Google, Japan Post Capital, ARK Invest, Helium-3, Magnetar, RyderVentures, and a syndicate led by Korea Investment Partners in the oversubscribed round.
In a press release, Apptronik said the funding will go toward scaling production and deployment of its Apollo humanoid robots. The company said it’s building out operations to “support growing customer demand across key industries” across the automotive, electronics manufacturing, logistics, fulfillment, and beverage bottling sectors.
“We’re building a future where humanoid robots are not just tools, but trusted collaborators working seamlessly alongside people starting in logistics, manufacturing, and retail, and eventually expanding into elder care, disaster response, and healthcare,” Apptronik CEO Jeff Cardenas said the release.
Mercedes-Benz has been experimenting with humanoid robotics in its production lines since at least March 2024, when the company announced its collaboration with Apptronik. The German automaker is currently testing Apptronik robots at its Digital Factory Campus in Berlin-Marienfelde and in Hungary.
According to Reuters, Mercedes-Benz has invested a “low double-digit million-euro sum” into Apptronik. That would be between $10 million to $14 million in USD. During a roundtable with reporters, Mercedes-Benz production chief Joerg Burzer said the manufacturer plans to expand their use to other factories.
“At Mercedes-Benz, we are relentlessly focused on pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in automotive innovation — not only in the cars we design, but in how we build them,” Burzer said in a press release. “Our work with Apptronik has given us a front-row seat to the incredible pace of progress in humanoid robotics and AI, and the transformative potential these technologies hold for modern manufacturing.”
Reuters reports that a “handful” of Apollo humanoids are learning specific tasks via teleoperation. They’re performing tasks like moving components to the production line and conducting quality checks. According to Mercedes-Benz, the humanoid robots help move car parts to workers so they can focus on building and quality checks.
The Mercedes-Benz Digital Factory Campus serves as a testing ground for new production technologies before they’re applied across the manufacturer’s global network. The plant has been operational since the early 1900s, but Mercedes-Benz transformed it into a center for digitalization in automotive production.
It’s the main development and testing site for the automaker’s digital production ecosystem named MO360 (Mercedes-Benz Operations 360). The platform connects data from all Mercedes-Benz plants worldwide for real-time monitoring of production performance. Launched in 2020, it serves as the company’s centralized data-driven system for production and quality management.
MO360 creates digital twins of production lines to test optimizations before they’re tested in the real world. The virtual replicas, which reflect their physical counterparts in real-time, are also used for predictive maintenance to prevent machine failures before they happen. The AI-driven system also tracks energy consumption and carbon emissions for targeting sustainability benchmarks.
Mercedes-Benz plans to start making axial-flux motors at the Berlin site in 2026. The motors are smaller, lighter, and more powerful than traditional electric motors. They’re made using cutting-edge laser and AI technologies, for which the company has filed more than 30 patents.
The company shared stylized footage of Apptronik’s Apollo humanoid robots working and training in the factory. For precision tasks, they’re using highly dexterous robotic hands by PSYONIC that double as prosthetics.
Apptronik also has the power of Google behind it as a highly vested partner. The tech giant’s artificial intelligence wing, DeepMind, is integrating its new Gemini Robotics AI with Apollo robots to make them smarter and more adaptable.
Apollo’s digital twin made a cameo during Nvidia founder Jensen Huang’s keynote during GTC 2025. The CEO introduced GR00T N1, describing it as the world’s first open-source humanoid robot foundation model as well as updates on its Cosmos AI model and Newton physics engine.
“The time has come for robots,” Huang said, adding, “We know very clearly that the world has a severe shortage of human workers. By the end of this decade, the world is going to be at least 50 million workers short.”
Apptronik is one of the perceived leaders in the emerging US humanoid robotics market alongside Tesla, Figure AI, Boston Dynamics, and Agility Robotics. Tesla plans to manufacture up to 10,000 Optimus robots in 2025, while Figure’s robots have been deployed to the BMW plant in Spartanburg, SC and an unnamed major logistics company. They’re facing stiffening competition with Chinese firms like Unitree Robotics, UBTECH, AgiBot, and EngineAI.
Apptronik is also working with Jabil, a leading global manufacturing services firm, to test and scale production of its Apollo robots. As part of the agreement, newly manufactured Apollo robots will perform tasks on Jabil sites including inspections, sorting, lineside delivery, fixture placement, and sub-assembly. Their ultimate goal is to have Apollo humanoids assembling other Apollo humanoids on the production floor.
Apptronik was founded in 2016 as a spinoff from the Human-Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas-Austin. The startup developed and tested 15 different robotic prototypes, including contributions to NASA’s Valkyrie humanoid robot for space exploration.
Based in Austin, TX, Apptronik introduced Apollo in 2023 as a solution for physical tasks in industrial settings. Standing 1.7 meters (5 feet 8 inches), Apollo was originally pitched as the iPhone of AI-powered humanoid robots.