Walden Robotics, a company building and deploying general-purpose robots that continuously learn and improve while performing real work, launched out of stealth with $300 million in funding.
The round, which values the company at $1.1 billion, is co-led by Toyota (Toyota Motor Corp, Toyota Invention Partners and Toyota Ventures) and Deviation Capital, with participation from Nvidia, Boeing, AE Ventures, Samsung Ventures, Prologis Ventures, CoreWeave Ventures and financial partners Calibrate Ventures, Colle Capital, Shine Capital, NextView Ventures, Squarepoint Capital, One Madison Group, KAS Venture Partners and Menlo Ventures, among others.
Walden deploys robots into real production environments in manufacturing and logistics, doing work side-by-side with people from day one. Walden enables skilled team members to delegate difficult-to-automate tasks, so they can "focus on the problem-solving, judgment and dedication to craft that make their work more gratifying and impactful."
The company said its name reflects the principle that this technology should be used to expand human potential and enable everyone to work, craft and live with greater purpose. Walden’s robots could be useful across several industries, with strategic partners in automotive, aerospace, semiconductors, electronics, logistics and life sciences. The company is hoping to meet needs from industries facing labor shortages, demographic shifts, competitive pressure and increased demand.
Walden’s product builds on a decade of foundational AI and robotics research the Walden team helped pioneer, including Diffusion Policy and Large Behavior Models (LBMs), the frontier model class that powers Walden’s robots and lets them quickly learn new tasks and continuously improve through real-world practice. Walden launched out of Toyota Research Institute in January 2026 and began working with customers across multiple industries immediately. Since February, Walden’s general-purpose robots have been doing useful work in production at a Toyota plant in North America, moving from first pilot to real work in under two months.
“Core advances in Physical AI, and all of the excitement and attention surrounding it, has made disruptive change possible,” said Dr. Russ Tedrake, co-founder and CEO of Walden, a professor at MIT, and former Senior Vice President of Large Behavior Models at Toyota Research Institute. “But providing real value to customers and building a robust and scalable business requires a deep understanding and respect for how manufacturing is done today. The best way to make fast and positive progress is by working closely together with the real experts.”
"Toyota is proud to support Walden and has high expectations for this investment and the deep strategic partnership we are building together. Walden’s uniqueness is its ability to deliver robots that provide value from day one in real-world work environments: Robots that continuously improve through learning, while always keeping people at the center. This reflects the values shared by Toyota and Walden, including kaizen, jidoka and a strong commitment to supporting and developing people. Over the long term, we hope to shape the future of manufacturing together and become partners that contribute to improving quality of life for people around the world." - Hiroki Nakajima, Executive Vice President, Member of the Board of Directors (Representative Director) and CTO, Toyota Motor Corporation
