The Pulse
Formic Raises $50M to Expand Factory Robotics
Formic announced $50 million in growth capital on October 22, combining a Series B led by Mercato Partners with debt financing from S2G Investments. The company plans to expand from task-specific factory automation into general-purpose robo
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
750,000 production hours behind Formic’s next move
Formic says its robots have logged more than 750,000 hours in live production, a track record the company now wants to use to move beyond automation built for individual factory tasks. The Chicago-based company announced $50 million in growth capital on October 22, combining a Series B led by Mercato Partners with debt financing from S2G Investments. The company did not disclose how the financing divides between equity and debt.
Formic plans to use the money to expand its AI and robotics work and to move toward general-purpose robotics: systems intended to handle a broader range of tasks through a shared deployment platform. The company also named metal fabrication as a new application area, alongside plans to deepen work in aerospace, space, defense, medical and energy. Those are expansion plans, not evidence that general-purpose robots are already operating across those industries.
A service model built around factory uptime
Formic sells automation through a recurring monthly payment rather than requiring manufacturers to buy and run the equipment themselves. Its Robot-as-a-Service package combines robots, deployment software, field operations, maintenance, financing and performance monitoring. Formic says customers do not need to make an upfront capital investment for the service.
The company reports that it runs hundreds of robots at more than 100 facilities across more than 30 states. Its release puts fleet uptime at 99.6% and says 97% of customers renew. Current applications include palletizing, case packing, machine tending and kitting, among other factory jobs.
Farid’s case for taking robots out of the lab
Formic argues that deploying and maintaining robots in working factories presents a different challenge from building capable machines. Its founder and CEO, Saman Farid, described that gap in the funding announcement:
“The robotics industry has made extraordinary progress in what robots can do. But building a capable robot and making it productive in a real factory are two very different challenges.”
Saman Farid, founder and CEO of Formic
Formic says it is working with Physical Intelligence to adapt that company’s robotic foundation models for manufacturing, using Formic’s production data and operating experience. The funding announcement describes the collaboration as part of its move toward more general-purpose systems; it does not name a factory customer or report results from a deployment using the adapted models.
The financing leaves one figure undisclosed
The $50 million headline combines a Series B and debt, but Formic’s announcement gives no separate amount for either component. Mercato Partners led the equity round, with Light Ray Ventures, Lightscape Partners, Citi and other new and existing investors participating; S2G Investments provided the debt financing. Without the split, the announcement does not establish how much of the total represents equity raised.
For manufacturers, Formic’s stated pitch is to add automation without purchasing the equipment outright, while the company takes responsibility for installation and ongoing operation. The next test is whether its reported operating record can support deployments beyond the defined jobs its current fleet performs. The announcement provides no timetable or deployment target for that broader rollout.