Agility Robotics goes public via SPAC at $2.5B valuation
Original: This humanoid robotics company is going public, but its CEO isn’t promising a robot in your home anytime soon
Why This Matters
First public humanoid robotics company opens direct retail investor access to a rapidly growing sector.
Agility Robotics announced plans to go public through a merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI, a SPAC, valuing the company at approximately $2.5 billion and expected to raise over $620 million — the largest capital raise in humanoid robotics history.
Agility Robotics, founded in 2015 as a spinoff from Oregon State University and based in Salem, Oregon, announced a SPAC merger with Michael Klein's Churchill Capital Corp XI. The deal values the company at around $2.5 billion and is expected to raise more than $620 million in gross proceeds. The transaction, pending shareholder approval and SEC review, would make Agility the first pure-play humanoid robotics company to trade on public markets. CEO Peggy Johnson — formerly EVP of Business Development at Microsoft and later CEO of Magic Leap — described the move as 'an acceleration story and a timing story,' citing first-mover advantage as a key motivation for the SPAC route. Proceeds will fund production expansion at Agility's 70,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and fulfill existing customer orders. The company makes bipedal humanoid robots, its flagship model called Digit, targeted at warehouses and factories. Johnson declined to offer forward-looking financial guidance or disclose Digit's bill of materials. The announcement comes amid a broader funding surge in humanoid robotics: AI2 Robotics raised $735 million, Apptronik closed a $935 million round, and Figure AI reported a $1 billion Series C at a $39 billion valuation.