The Philadelphia robotics tech startup Fort Robotics plans to go public on the NASDAQ stock exchange in a move that values the eight-year-old company at $556 million and could raise up to $201 million in cash.
Fort Robotics said it would make the evolution by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) called Newbury Street II. That Boston-based entity defines itself as a “blank check company” formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Newbury Street II is led by CEO Thomas Bushey, former President of Ondas, a provider of private wireless networks and autonomous robotics platforms for industrial infrastructure.
Fort Robotics provides technology to robot manufacturers and end users that makes their autonomous machines safe, secure, and reliable enough to deploy at scale alongside humans, the firm said. It is backed by investors including Tiger Global, Mark Cuban Companies, Prologis Ventures, and Five Eleven Partners. The company grew out of founder and CEO Samuel Reeves’s previous company Humanistic Robotics, which built robots to clear landmines.
“Physical AI will change the way we work in every industry, and this will be a game changer for workers, organizations and governments worldwide,” said Samuel Reeves, Founder and CEO of FORT Robotics. “However, these new machines come with a completely new and different risk profile, and that must be addressed before autonomous systems can scale. FORT’s mission is to ‘ensure robots cause no harm’ and we are dedicated to pioneering and building a shared framework for trust that robot manufacturers, integrators, end users, regulators, insurers, governments and any other interested party can rely on.”
