Tokyo-based O-ID has raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding to move its AP-1 modular humanoid robot from prototype toward production and expand its engineering team. The company announced the round on September 24, with backing from Tawani Ventures, Hustle Fund and Techstars.
O-ID’s central proposition is easier maintenance on the factory floor. It says major modules can be removed and reattached without tools in about five minutes, allowing staff to replace a failed component where the robot stands. That repair time is a company claim; the announcement does not provide independently measured fleet-level uptime results.
The startup is targeting automotive manufacturing and logistics in Japan before expanding into other industries and eventually the United States, according to Techstars. Norwegian CEO Stian Jakobsen and Dutch CTO Simon Gormuzov founded O-ID in Tokyo in 2025 after meeting at Waseda University.
Its first prototype is a stationary dual-arm machine used for integration and manipulation testing. Jakobsen told Tech.eu that a stronger mobile version is planned for CES 2027, with factory pilots targeted for early 2027. Initial tasks include loading and unloading machines and transferring components between production stages.
The investment puts serviceability at the center of O-ID’s approach to industrial humanoids. RobotsBeat’s coverage of Simplexity’s factory deployments illustrates the wider push toward repeated material-handling work. O-ID’s next test is turning its modular design into reliable customer operations; the funding announcement describes development plans rather than a proven commercial fleet operating at scale.
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