• China leads the world in humanoid robot funding, with startups there raising $7.56 billion over the last ten years.

• The United States comes in second with $3.17 billion, while the United Kingdom holds a distant third place at $165 million.

• Funding drops off sharply after the top two countries, showing that this race is really a US-China contest.

🇨🇳 China: The Runaway Leader

China is not just ahead in humanoid robot funding, it is in a different league altogether. Startups there have raised $7.56 billion, more than double what the United States has raised. A big part of this comes a few recent deals.

In 2026 alone, a Shenzhen-based wheeled-humanoid maker raised $735 million in a single round. Unitree, one of China’s best-known robotics makers, has also filed to go public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. This would make it the country’s first publicly listed humanoid robotics company.

Humanoid Robot Funding is backed by the Chinese government too, which has set national targets for mass-producing humanoid robots and opened a state-funded National Humanoid Robot Innovation Center in Beijing.

United States: Still a Major Force

The United States remains the second-biggest hub for humanoid robot funding, with $3.17 billion raised. This is powered by a small group of companies that have become household names in the industry. Figure AI alone has raised about $2.34 billion and is now valued at $39 billion, backed by names like Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAI, and Jeff Bezos.

Other major American players include Apptronik, Boston Dynamics, Agility Robotics, and Tesla, which are placing robots into real work settings.

Boston Dynamics, for example, recently retired its older hydraulic Atlas robot in favor of a fully electric version built for commercial use. The US also has the largest number of humanoid robot startups of any country, but its funding is more concentrated in a few very large companies rather than spread across many smaller ones.

United Kingdom: Europe’s Leading Bet

The United Kingdom sits well behind China and the US, but it stands out as Europe’s strongest player in this space, with $165 million raised. Much of this is tied to one standout company, simply called Humanoid, based in London.

Rather than building robots that walk on two legs, Humanoid uses wheeled robots, betting that they will reach factories sooner since there is no European safety standard yet for walking robots in industrial settings.

Canada, South Korea, and Japan: Smaller but Steady

Canada has raised $109 million, helped by companies like Sanctuary AI, which has drawn corporate backers including Magna, Bell Canada, and Workday.

South Korea, home to companies with strong ties to Samsung and other major manufacturers, has raised $105 million. The country recently formed a national K-Humanoid Alliance bringing together government, universities, and robot makers to grow the industry together.