Formic Raises $50 Million for General Robotics Expansion

The Chicago-based robotics firm secures new growth capital to scale its AI-driven manufacturing solutions.

Updated on Oct. 22, 2026 in Robotics

Formic Raises $50 Million for General Robotics Expansion

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Do you support the increased use of AI-powered robotics in American manufacturing facilities?

Formic has successfully raised $50 million in a Series B financing round to transition from task-specific automation to general-purpose robotics. The company will use these funds to bolster its AI capabilities and expand into new industrial applications.

Why it matters

The capital injection enables Formic to scale its robotics operations into high-growth sectors such as aerospace, defense, and energy. By integrating foundation models with production data, the company aims to broaden the scope of its automated manufacturing systems.

Formic maintains a fleet uptime of 99.6% across more than 100 facilities in over 30 states. The company has accumulated over 750,000 hours of live production experience and currently achieves a 97% customer renewal rate.

The players

Formic

This Chicago-based robotics company provides automated manufacturing systems through a recurring service model.

Mercato Partners

This investment firm led the Series B financing round for Formic.

The details

The firm operates a Robot-as-a-Service model that consolidates equipment, maintenance, and software into a single monthly fee. It assembles and tests its hardware in Bolingbrook, Illinois, while developing new software capabilities at its R&D facility in Oakland, California.

Formic was founded in 2020.
The $50 million funding round was announced on October 22, 2026.

The Tech Race

The adoption of robotic foundation models represents a major shift from legacy, hard-coded factory machines toward adaptable AI-driven systems. This positions Formic to compete with established industrial incumbents by reducing the specialized engineering required for new robotic deployments.

Manufacturers and industrial facilities may soon gain access to more versatile, AI-enabled robotic systems for complex tasks like metal fabrication. These advancements aim to reduce the time required for robot deployment, which has already accelerated threefold over the past year.

The takeaway

The transition toward general-purpose robotics signals a shift where manufacturers can automate a wider array of processes without needing custom-built solutions for every task. Companies looking to implement these systems should evaluate whether their production cycles benefit from scalable, service-based automation models.