Rivian spin-out Mind Robotics raises $500M for industrial AI-powered robots

San Jose: Mind Robotics, a industrial robotics lab by electric vehicle maker Rivian, has raised $500 million in a Series A funding round. The financing follows a $115 million seed round, bringing Mind Robotics’ total fundraising to $615 million since its founding. This round brings the startup’s valuation to around $2 billion.

Mind Robotics was created by Rivian CEO and founder RJ Scaringe. The company was spun out of Rivian in November 2025. Scaringe wants to use data from Rivian’s electric vehicle factory to train industrial robots to be more dexterous and adaptable. The robots can perform repeatable tasks, but many factory jobs need human-like skills that current robots lack.

Scaringe told The Wall Street Journal that Mind Robotics will have many robots deployed by the end of this year. The startup focuses on traditional factory robot designs rather than humanoid robots like those built by Tesla. Scaringe said that doing cartwheels does not create value in manufacturing.

There may be collaboration between Rivian and Mind Robotics in the future. Rivian is developing custom silicon chips for autonomous vehicle software. Scaringe said these chips could be sold to Mind Robotics because they work well for robotics.