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Robotics Startup Mowito Raises $3M in Pre-seed Funding to Expand AI Foundation Models for Industrial Robotic Arms

Insider Brief

  • Mowito raised $3 million in pre-seed funding to expand its AI software for industrial robot arms.
  • The round was led by Version One Ventures, with participation from All In Capital, Unisol, iSeed and angel investors including Soumith Chintala, Adarsh Kulkarni, Ashish Kulkarni and Vaibhav Domkundwar.
  • The Bengaluru- and Detroit-based startup develops foundation AI models that allow industrial robot arms to learn manufacturing tasks through demonstrations rather than conventional programming.

Mowito announced it has raised $3 million in pre-seed funding to expand its AI foundation models for industrial robot arms.

The round was led by Version One Ventures, with participation from All In Capital, Unisol, iSeed and angel investors, according to co-founder Puru Rastogi. Angel backers included Soumith Chintala of Thinking Machines Lab, Adarsh Kulkarni of Foundry Robotics, Ashish Kulkarni of Coformer.ai and Vaibhav Domkundwar of Better Capital.

The Bengaluru- and Detroit-based startup develops foundation AI models that allow industrial robot arms to learn manufacturing tasks through demonstrations rather than conventional programming.

“Factory robots have always needed rigid, hand-coded programs that break the moment a part changes,” Rastogi noted in a LinkedIn post. “Mowito’s physical AI flips that: it learns straight from task demonstrations — sometimes as few as one — and picks up the job on the spot, with the precision real assembly lines demand.”

Mowito said it will use the funding to expand in the U.S., strengthen its engineering and go-to-market teams, and scale across automotive and electronics manufacturers.

“This isn’t a lab experiment,” added Rastogi. “Mowito-powered robots are already running production lines at a Fortune 500 automotive company and one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers.”

The company was founded in 2024 by Rastogi, Adityanag Nagesh and Safar V.

Greg Bock
About the author
Greg Bock

Greg Bock is an award-winning investigative journalist with more than 25 years of experience in print, digital, and broadcast news. His reporting has spanned crime, politics, business and technology, earning multiple Keystone Awards and a Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters honors. Through the Associated Press and Nexstar Media Group, his coverage has reached audiences across the United States.

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