Where Humanoid Robot Startups Are Taking Off

The market for humanoid robots has been growing significantly recently. In 2025, $2.65 billion was invested in humanoid robotics startups, more than in the years 2018 to 2024 combined, according to data published by the market research platform Tracxn. This development indicates that investors now view humanoid robotics as a more mature and commercially attractive technology.

China currently leads the field with 23 startups specialized in humanoid robotics, just ahead of the 22 U.S.-based companies. While China and the United States are the clear epicenters for humanoid-robotics entrepreneurship, a second tier is led by India (12), ahead of several European countries: the U.K. (6) and Germany (5) stand out, followed by France (3). Beyond these hubs, our chart also shows clusters in Australia (3), Japan (3), Austria (2) and Canada (2), suggesting that while interest is global, the densest startup ecosystems remain concentrated in a handful of markets.

The Chinese and American startup ecosystem is particularly notable in this field. Chinese companies such as Unitree Robotics and Agibot are currently producing more humanoid robot models than any other country in the world (more than 5,000 each in 2025), while some of the best-known U.S. names, like Boston Dynamics and Tesla, are aiming to ramp up their production of robots for industrial and consumer applications in 2026 (Atlas and Optimus, respectively). In Europe, current key players include Engineered Arts (U.K.) and Neura Robotics (Germany).