FieldAI reportedly seeks $700M at $10B valuation

The report did not name the investors expected to participate in the deal. Large growth-stage funding rounds often draw contributions from a startup's existing backers. FieldAI's investor roster includes Bezos Expeditions, Nvidia Corp.'s NVentures fund and Intel Capital. The reported $10 billion valuation would be five times what FieldAI was worth last August, according to the report.

FieldAI's technology is designed to reduce the work required to deploy robots. Engineers must often provide robots with a map of the environment where they are expected to operate, and preparing such charts is time-consuming, particularly when they need to cover a large area. Static maps also do not account for the fact that environments such as construction sites change regularly, which can lead to significant accuracy gaps.

FieldAI says its AI models do not require a map to navigate and can operate without GPS access, an internet connection or user-defined travel paths. That significantly reduces the amount of work involved in setting up a robot's navigation stack, lowering the cost of automation initiatives. The models can automatically adjust their behavior in response to risks, such as slowing down a robot when it enters a section of a factory where the lights are malfunctioning. FieldAI says such changes make it easier to avoid collisions and navigation mistakes.

The company says its models can run on a variety of systems ranging from autonomous vehicles to humanoid robots. In March, it partnered with Boston Dynamics Inc. to add support for that company's four-legged Spot robot. The integration is intended to enable industrial customers to automate certain equipment inspection tasks.

Industrial robots often include not only cameras but also lidar equipment, radars and other sensors. FieldAI turns data from those sensors into a digital twin of the environment where the robots are deployed. A digital twin is similar to a simulation in many respects, but it is continuously updated with data from the real-world environment it emulates, which FieldAI says boosts output accuracy. Customers can use the digital twins to virtually test site changes; for example, a manufacturer might simulate the impact of factory floor modifications before implementing them. FieldAI says the digital twins can also be used for AI training.

The company is said to have surpassed $100 million in revenue and customer contracts this past June. According to the report, that number has since topped $135 million. FieldAI has more than 30 customers across verticals such as construction, energy and the public sector.