1X found some big potential buyers for humanoid robots designed for consumers – the portfolio company of one of its investors.
The robotics company announced a strategic partnership to create thousands of humanoid robots Available for eqt portfolio companies on Thursday. EQT is a Swedish multi-asset investor, and venture fund, which is one of the backers of 1X.
This deal includes the delivery of up to 10,000 1x humanoid robots between 2026 and 2030 for EQT’s more than 300 portfolio companies with concentration, portfolio warehouse with concentration, warehouse and other industrial use cases.
1x will enter into individual deals with each of its interested eqt portfolio companies, 1X confirmed to TechCrunch.
This partnership is interesting because the neo 1X has been marketed as a humanoid for personal use and presented as a “ready-to-use hamoid robot to transform life at home.” Not like some 1x friends, like Characterhas not been marketed as a bot for commercial purposes.
1X does not have a robot designed for industrial purposes, Hawa Industri, but this offer specifically includes Neo Humanoid.
When the company open pre-orders For the $20,000 robot in October, the announcement focused on how the robot can be used in people’s homes from the various tasks that robots can do.
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The deal is quite different use cases.
That said, humanoids for the home will continue to sell quickly while industrial use cases are an easier sell. The $20,000 price tag automatically limits the consumer customer pool as well.
The custom Neo also comes with a privacy element that will be hard to swallow for many people – The human operator of the 1X can see through the robot’s eyes to someone else’s house.
Humanoids also have potential safety issues around pets and small children due to their instability and instability. Multiple VCS and Scientists in the Robotics field told Techcrunch this summer Humanoid adoption was not possible for many years If not decades.
The company declined to share how many orders it has received for the neo bot but a spokesperson said pre-orders are “very far” from the company’s target.
1X was founded in 2014 and has since raised over $130 million in venture capital from companies including eqt Ventures, Tierup Global and Openai Startup Fund, among others.