Fauna

What Fauna does

Fauna Robotics is a private US-based humanoid robotics company headquartered in New York City that designs, engineers, and ships a single product platform called Sprout — a compact humanoid robot featuring modular autonomy, compliant locomotion, and whole-body teleoperation, built around a safety-first architecture (lightweight materials, soft exterior, minimized pinch points, onboard safety sensing, and compliant motor control that yields to external forces). The company markets to three primary user communities: software developers who want full SDK access to build custom applications on the hardware, enterprises in retail, hospitality, and entertainment seeking AI-capable customer-facing robots, and academic and industry researchers studying locomotion, manipulation, autonomy, and human-robot interaction. Named reference relationships include Disney (entertainment), Boston Dynamics (robotics), UCSD (academic research), and a partner identified as Labs, with a publicly available arXiv technical report documenting the platform.

The Sprout robot ships with battery, grippers, and software bundled in. The company positions its offering across five verticals: retail and hospitality (guest greeting, product showcasing, in-store guidance), consumer and home (personal assistant, family companion, home concierge), research and education (engineering curriculum, student projects, robotics competitions, real-world data collection for AI research), entertainment and experiences (interactive characters in theme parks, attractions, and live events), and a developer segment (SDK access for custom robotics applications). The modular autonomy architecture and full SDK access are explicitly designed to enable third-party extension rather than sell a closed appliance.

Fauna generates revenue primarily through hardware sales of the Sprout robot, supplemented by recurring access to its SDK and software platform. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed — the company runs a consultative, direct-sales motion with a "Request Robot" form on its website and a dedicated sales email ([email protected]), and recruits operational staff through Amazon Jobs. The company distributes exclusively through its own direct channels within the United States, with no disclosed resellers or international footprint, and positions itself as "Designed in NYC, Assembled in America." The company has raised approximately $84.6 million across five funding rounds between 2016 and 2020, with investors including Madrona, Google Ventures, CRV, DCVC, Point72 Ventures, and Costanoa Ventures.

Name

Fauna

Legal name

Fauna Robotics Inc

Website

https://fauna.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Fauna Robotics builds Sprout, a safety-engineered humanoid robot with modular autonomy and full SDK access, sold directly to developers, enterprises, and academic researchers for use in retail, hospitality, entertainment, consumer, and research applications.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Humanoid Robotics

akta.pro primary industry

Humanoid & General-Purpose Robots (HDAAAIAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Robot Software, Autonomy Stacks & Simulation (ROS, digital twins) (HDAAAIAK), Human-Robot Interaction & Teleoperation Systems (HDAAAIAM), Service & Hospitality Robots (HDAAAIAB), Home Companion & Social Robots (CRACARAE)

Keywords

• Humanoid robotics platform
• Robotics software development kit
• AI robotics applications
• Humanoid robot hardware
• Robot teleoperation systems

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Robot Hardware Sales: Sale of humanoid robots (Sprout) with battery, grippers, and software included. Hardware-first revenue model with bundled software capabilities.
2. SDK and Software Access: Revenue derived from developer access to robot SDK and software platform for building custom applications on the robot hardware

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Fauna sells the Sprout humanoid robot platform, a physical robot that ships with battery, grippers, and software included, paired with full SDK access for developers. The platform offers modular autonomy, compliant locomotion, and whole-body teleoperation, and is positioned for safe human interaction across enterprise, research, and consumer-facing deployments. The company's first-party website describes it as building 'a world where robots operate everywhere people do.'

Product overview

Fauna Robotics offers a single unified product platform built around the Sprout humanoid robot. The platform provides hardware with full SDK access for developers, enterprise AI application deployment capabilities for businesses, and a versatile research platform for robotics studies. The core Sprout robot ships with battery, grippers, and software included, targeting use cases in retail and hospitality, consumer and home environments, research and education, and entertainment and experiences.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Sprout: Humanoid robot platform for developers, enterprises, and researchers. Features modular autonomy, compliant locomotion, and whole-body teleoperation. Used for retail, hospitality, consumer/home, research/education, and entertainment applications.

Products and services

• Sprout Sprout is a humanoid robot platform with modular autonomy, compliant locomotion, and whole-body teleoperation capabilities, designed for safe human interaction using lightweight materials, a soft exterior, minimized pinch points, onboard safety sensing, and compliant motor control. It ships with battery, grippers, and software included, comes with full SDK access for developers, and is configurable with custom voices, gestures, and movements. It is offered to developers (SDK on hardware), enterprises (retail, hospitality, entertainment, business operations), researchers (locomotion, manipulation, autonomy, HRI studies), and consumer/home users (personal assistant or companion applications).

Named customers4 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Figure AI: Figure AI develops the Figure 01/02 humanoid robot targeting enterprise applications including manufacturing and logistics. It is a direct competitor in the general-purpose humanoid category pursuing enterprise commercialization.
• 1X Technologies: 1X builds the Neo humanoid robot with a focus on safe, human-friendly design for home and enterprise use. Direct competitor with similar safety-first design philosophy and dual consumer/enterprise go-to-market.
• Apptronik: Apptronik develops the Apollo humanoid robot and has secured partnerships with Google DeepMind and Mercedes-Benz for enterprise deployments. Direct competitor in humanoid robotics targeting similar enterprise and logistics verticals.
• Agility Robotics: Agility Robotics builds the Digit humanoid robot focused on logistics and warehouse applications with Amazon as a tested partner. Direct competitor in the humanoid category with a more focused logistics vertical.
• Boston Dynamics: Boston Dynamics manufactures the Atlas humanoid robot and is a leading humanoid robotics incumbent. Fauna lists Boston Dynamics as a 'trusted partner,' making the relationship simultaneously customer and competitor — directly competing in the humanoid category.
• Unitree Robotics: Unitree produces the H1 and G1 humanoid robots at significantly lower price points with broad developer availability. Direct competitor pressuring the humanoid market on cost and accessibility for developers and researchers.
• Sanctuary AI: Sanctuary AI develops the Phoenix humanoid robot with a focus on industrial and customer-facing applications, emphasizing dexterous manipulation. Direct competitor in commercial humanoid deployment.
• Fourier Intelligence: Fourier Intelligence produces the GR-1 humanoid robot and has deep rehabilitation robotics roots. Direct competitor targeting general-purpose humanoid applications with emphasis on dexterity and human interaction.
• Hanson Robotics: Hanson Robotics builds socially expressive humanoid robots such as Sophia with a focus on customer engagement, entertainment, and research. Direct competitor in the socially-engaging humanoid niche that overlaps with Fauna's entertainment and retail verticals.

Broad incumbents

• Tesla (Optimus): Tesla's Optimus humanoid is a moonshot within a much larger EV and energy business. While broadly pursuing humanoid robotics, Tesla's primary identity and capital allocation sit elsewhere, making it a broad incumbent rather than a pure-play peer.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fauna
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@FaunaRobotics
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fauna-robotics
• Instagraminstagram.com/faunarobotics/?igsh=cGg0dnozNGpiYm85

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors16 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fauna