British unicorn Humanoid points to way forward for European tech

Victoire! Tech laggard Europe scored a pair of wins last week. Britain’s Humanoid became Europe’s first pure-play robotics “unicorn”, achieving a post-money valuation of just under $1.4bn. And Mistral of France snagged chipmaker Samsung as a participant in its latest funding round, putting an expected €20bn sticker on the continent’s AI champion.

Granted, by global standards, Humanoid is a mere homunculus. In China, Unitree Robotics, expected to achieve a roughly $6bn valuation at its upcoming Shanghai listing, is one of a hundred Chinese companies focused on “embodied AI”. In the US, FigureAI commands a $39bn valuation; tech tsar Elon Musk says his Optimus humanoids will be “the biggest product ever created”.

But the London-based company offers a compelling roadmap for European tech, showing that while the continent is deindustrialising, it still has manufacturing clout. For example, Humanoid is tapping Bosch as a contract manufacturer, capitalising on the German group’s expertise in high-power, complex parts. That is doubly useful in an industry heavily reliant on safety certification.

Similar skill sets are available in the industry’s fledgling supply chain. Germany’s Schaeffler will supply the powerful high-precision actuators, the “muscles” which make up half of humanoids’ material costs and are vulnerable to bottlenecks. As humanoids are given more demanding tasks, called upon to lift heavier loads and keep going longer on fewer charges, actuators will need to keep pace.

These German partners are also investors and future customers. While reminiscent of the old Japanese keiretsu structure of interlinked commercial relationships and cross-shareholdings, this also borrows from the playbook of AI titans like OpenAI and Nvidia who invest in their buyers. In theory, that should pay off for both sides: keeping factories ticking and establishing supply chain resilience for Humanoid. The company aims to produce 150,000 units in 2030 and to generate revenue in the…