FORT Robotics has secured approximately $20 million in additional funding commitments from investors including Tiger Global and Mark Cuban Companies, as it looks to expand its safety technology for autonomous machines operating in defence and other industries.
The investment comes as the Philadelphia-based company prepares to go public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Half the new funding is expected to close this week, while the remaining $10 million is tied to the planned stock market listing.
The investment marks another bet on artificial intelligence from Tiger Global, which was among OpenAI‘s early backers but suffered heavy losses after technology valuations collapsed following the pandemic-era investment boom.
Tiger has backed FORT since 2022, when it led the company’s Series B round. Its latest commitment comes as investors increasingly shift focus from AI software to the machines expected to put it to work.
“As the opportunity for physical AI continues to expand, we believe FORT plays a critical role in building an independent safety layer that is foundational to its adoption,” said Griffin Schroeder, partner at Tiger Global. “Our continued investment reflects our conviction in FORT’s progress and promise.”
FORT’s business centres on what it calls a “Trust Layer” for physical AI. In practice, this means hardware and software designed to keep autonomous machines operating safely, including wireless emergency stop systems, machine controls, and technology that lets human operators intervene when something goes wrong.
The company says it has deployed its technology across more than 19,500 units worldwide, serving over 600 customers, including Agility Robotics, DoorDash, Zoox, Textron, and Google DeepMind.
Although much of its existing business is focused on industrial robotics, FORT is targeting growing demand from defence, construction, and other sectors where autonomous machines are being deployed in increasingly complex environments.
For defence operators, the challenge is keeping control of autonomous equipment as more decisions are handed over to software. As these systems take on more complex tasks, having a reliable way for human operators to intervene or shut down a machine when something goes wrong becomes increasingly important.
FORT’s technology is more about preventing accidents than stopping hackers, but the two aren’t entirely separate. As autonomous machines become more connected, the systems used to control or shut them down could themselves become targets for cyberattacks, raising questions about how well those safeguards are protected.
The latest investment comes ahead of FORT’s proposed merger with Newbury Street II Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which would see the business listed on Nasdaq under the ticker FROB. The deal values FORT at around $500 million before the merger, with more than $50 million now committed to the transaction, some of it conditional on completion.
SPACs have a patchy track record, with critics arguing they allow companies to go public before they’ve proved their business models or justified their valuations.
