Apptronik

Recognized under Tier 8 — Robotics, Apptronik is an Austin-based developer of the Apollo humanoid robot, a 5-foot-8, 160-pound platform that carries up to 55 pounds on a roughly four-hour battery charge. Apollo has been deployed alongside human workers at Mercedes-Benz and Jabil manufacturing sites, and in early 2026 Apptronik raised $520 million in new funding — bringing total capital raised to nearly $1 billion, with investors including Google and Mercedes-Benz — to scale production and commercial pilots. The company unveiled Apollo 2 as a training and data-collection platform in June 2026, with Apollo 3 positioned as its first fully commercial product targeted for 2027. General-purpose humanoid labor built for structured industrial environments is the closest terrestrial analog to the construction, maintenance, and material-handling work off-Earth habitats will need performed before they can support large permanent crews.