Over the past ten years, investors have poured billions of dollars into startups building robots that can walk, lift, and work alongside humans. But this money has not spread out evenly across the world. A handful of countries have pulled far ahead, while most others are just getting started.
The latest data from Tracxn shows that China has attracted the most funding for humanoid robot startups, far ahead of every other country. The United States ranks second, while funding drops sharply after the top two countries.
Key Takeaways
- China leads the world in humanoid robot funding, with startups there raising $7.56 billion over the last ten years.
- The United States comes in second with $3.17 billion, while the United Kingdom holds a distant third place at $165 million.
- Funding drops off sharply after the top two countries, showing that this race is really a US-China contest.
Humanoid Robot Startup Funding by Country
The figures shows total funding raised by humanoid robot startups over the last ten years, by country. The data is sourced from Tracxn, a platform that tracks startup funding across industries.
| Rank | Country | Total Funding |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇨🇳 China | $7.56B |
| 2 | 🇺🇸 United States | $3.17B |
| 3 | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | $165M |
| 4 | 🇨🇦 Canada | $109M |
| 5 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | $105M |
| 6 | 🇯🇵 Japan | $78.5M |
| 7 | 🇮🇱 Israel | $17M |
| 8 | 🇮🇹 Italy | $5.5M |
| 9 | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | $5M |
| 10 | 🇫🇷 France | $2.73M |
🇨🇳 China: The Runaway Leader
China is not just ahead in humanoid robot funding, it is in a different league altogether. Startups there have raised $7.56 billion, more than double what the United States has raised. A big part of this comes from a few recent deals.
In 2026 alone, a Shenzhen-based wheeled-humanoid maker raised $735 million in a single round. Unitree, one of China’s best-known robotics makers, has also filed to go public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. This would make it the country’s first publicly listed humanoid robotics company.
Humanoid Robot Funding is backed by the Chinese government too, which has set national targets for mass-producing humanoid robots and opened a state-funded National Humanoid Robot Innovation Center in Beijing.
United States: Still a Major Force
The United States remains the second-biggest hub for humanoid robot funding, with $3.17 billion raised. This is powered by a small group of companies that have become household names in the industry. Figure AI alone has raised about $2.34 billion and is now valued at $39 billion, backed by names like Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAI, and Jeff Bezos.
Other major American players include Apptronik, Boston Dynamics, Agility Robotics, and Tesla, which are placing robots into real work settings.
Boston Dynamics, for example, recently retired its older hydraulic Atlas robot in favor of a fully electric version built for commercial use. The US also has the largest number of humanoid robot startups of any country, but its funding is more concentrated in a few very large companies rather than spread across many smaller ones.
United Kingdom: Europe’s Leading Bet
The United Kingdom sits well behind China and the US, but it stands out as Europe’s strongest player in this space, with $165 million raised. Much of this is tied to one standout company, simply called Humanoid, based in London.
Rather than building robots that walk on two legs, Humanoid uses wheeled robots, betting that they will reach factories sooner since there is no European safety standard yet for walking robots in industrial settings.
Canada, South Korea, and Japan: Smaller but Steady
Canada has raised $109 million, helped by companies like Sanctuary AI, which has drawn corporate backers including Magna, Bell Canada, and Workday.
South Korea, home to companies with strong ties to Samsung and other major manufacturers, has raised $105 million. The country recently formed a national K-Humanoid Alliance bringing together government, universities, and robot makers to grow the industry together.
Japan, one of the earliest countries to work on humanoid robots through government-backed research programs, has raised $78.5 million. Its funding is smaller today, but Japanese companies have deep experience, with robots like NEXTAGE already running on real factory lines.
The remaining countries on the list, Israel at $17 million, Italy at $5.5 million, Malaysia at $5 million, and France at $2.73 million, show that humanoid robotics is starting to spread to more parts of the world, even if the funding is still small. France is home to a notable open-source humanoid project built in partnership with Hugging Face.
The Bottom Line
Humanoid robots are becoming one of the fastest-growing areas of technology. China and the United States together account for the vast majority of all money raised in Humanoid Robots. China’s rise has been especially fast, fueled by government support and a wave of massive funding rounds in just the past year. Everyone else, from the UK to Japan to France, is playing catch-up.
