Pittsburgh AI Firm Attracts $300 Million Investment

The recent $300 million investment in a Pittsburgh AI startup, including money from the likes of Jeff Bezos, seemed to come from nowhere.

Yet the substantial backing for that company, Skild AI, did not surprise those who follow the city’s growing technology sector.

Skild AI is developing software that will enable robots to perform increasingly sophisticated tasks. The company says its goal is to make intelligent robots as ubiquitous and universally accepted as smartphones. If Skild manages to achieve that ambitious goal, it likely would become one of the most valuable companies of the modern era.

“We were quite excited about the news of Skild’s significant funding round from such notable and heavy-hitting investors,” said Jonathan Kersting, vice president of communications for the Pittsburgh Technology Council.

The funding not only helps Skild, but also introduces investors in the company to the Pittsburgh region and other companies working on AI technologies, Kersting said.

This funding round brings the company valuation to $1.5 billion.

The investment was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, SoftBank Group, and Jeff Bezos, through Bezos Expeditions, with participation from Felicis Ventures, Sequoia, Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, CRV, Amazon, SV Angel, and Carnegie Mellon University.

The CMU taproot

Like many Pittsburgh tech startups, the technology Skild is developing is rooted in a research laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University. Founded a year ago, the company is developing a “general-purpose brain” for a variety of robots.

CMU professors Deepak Pathak and Abhinav Gupta say their AI model is based on more complex data than that of competitors. Their goal is to help robots master the physical world so they don’t stumble over obstacles and put humans at risk, Pathak said.

“The large-scale model we are building demonstrates unparalleled generalization and emergent capabilities across robots and tasks, providing significant potential for automation within real-world environments,” Pathak said.

The robot brain could theoretically empower quadrupeds like Boston Dynamics’ dog “Spot,” and humanoids like Digit, designed and trained by Pittsburgh’s Agility Robotics.

Gupta and Pathak have been Carnegie Mellon University professors for a combined 25 years.

The announcement comes just a few months after Pittsburgh International Airport hosted its second Aviation and Robotics Summit in conjunction with Future Travel Experience at Carnegie Mellon that drew aviation professionals from dozens of countries from around the world to work with Pittsburgh’s tech and robotics experts to identify major challenges in the industry and work together to find solutions.

AI has vast potential in region

Industry insiders see a bright future for companies like Skild in Western Pennsylvania, a region whose past innovation has included George Westinghouse’s development of the alternating current and Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine.

“Pittsburgh is leading the charge in this type of technology. This sort of deep tech is the future of the region,” said Jennifer Apicella, executive director of the Pittsburgh Robotics Network.

Deep tech refers to companies like Skild and many other Pittsburgh startups whose value is rooted in valuable research and intellectual property that is difficult to duplicate.

“AI development is accelerating. It’s becoming more enabling and more affordable,” Apicella said.

Help with labor shortage

Skild’s sophisticated technology could ease the country’s labor shortage.

There are now more than 1.7 million more jobs available than there are unemployed workers, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The National Association of Manufacturers anticipates that 2.1 million manufacturing jobs will be unfilled by 2030.

Many such jobs, such as work on oil rigs and in machine rooms, can be dangerous for humans.

Skild’s model enables robots to adapt and perform tasks alongside humans or instead of humans.

The Skild AI team includes robotics and AI experts from companies like Meta, Tesla, Nvidia, Amazon, Google, and the top schools including Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford, and UC Berkeley.