Factory Robots Now Rent by the Month
Formic's US$50 million raise will fund expansion into general-purpose robotics and metal fabrication for U.S. manufacturers.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Robotics
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Formic Technologies raised US$50 million in growth capital in a Series B equity round led by Mercato Partners, with participation from Light Ray Ventures, Lightscape Partners, Citi and other investors, plus debt financing from S2G Investments. The financing is an announced corporate development, and Formic's robots are already deployed in production.
Why it matters
Formic sells robotic automation to U.S. manufacturers on a Robots-as-a-Service model, a pattern that shifts robot ownership and maintenance risk onto the vendor. The proceeds are earmarked for expansion into general-purpose robotics and metal fabrication, which signals where recurring-fee factory automation is heading.
Formic's figures are company-reported, including 99.6% fleet uptime and 97% customer renewal, and the extraction gives no independent audit of them. The 750,000-plus production hours and deployment speed of roughly three times faster than a year ago are likewise self-reported comparisons.
The players
Formic Technologies
A U.S. robotics company that deploys robots for manufacturers on a Robots-as-a-Service model across more than 100 facilities.
Mercato Partners
A venture investor that led Formic's Series B round and placed Managing Director Ryan Sanders on Formic's board.
Physical Intelligence
A robotics AI developer whose robotic foundation models Formic is adapting for manufacturing applications.
Humanoid Global
A company that announced Formic's US$50 million raise on November 2, 2026.
The details
Formic bundles robot hardware, deployment software, field operations, maintenance, financing and performance monitoring into one recurring monthly payment, so the customer pays for output rather than buying equipment outright. The company assembles and tests its robots at a facility in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and develops new capabilities at an R&D center in Oakland, California. Formic is also adapting Physical Intelligence's robotic foundation models, which are general-purpose AI models for robot control, to factory tasks using its own production data.
Timeline
October 22, 2026: Formic issued a news release on the financing and its operations.
November 2, 2026: Humanoid Global announced the US$50 million raise from Vancouver, BC.
The Tech Race
Formic's Robots-as-a-Service model places it in the same subscription-style robotics market that is drawing investor capital toward embodied AI for factories. Its partnership with Physical Intelligence on foundation models for manufacturing ties it to the general-purpose robot-model race.
Manufacturers can access Formic's robots through a monthly payment that bundles equipment, maintenance and performance monitoring, without buying the hardware outright. The extraction does not state pricing, availability timelines or how quickly new general-purpose capabilities will reach customers.
The takeaway
Watch whether Formic's expansion into metal fabrication and general-purpose robotics is announced with named customers or deployment counts. The adaptation of Physical Intelligence's foundation models on Formic's production data is the trajectory to track.
Further reading
For broader context on the field, see the Robotics section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Cornwall Standard Freeholder.
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