# Eka Robotics Raises $150M Series A at $1.45B for a Vision-Force-Action Model Trained in Simulation

Times of AI Desk · 2026-10-20 · Industry

[https://timesof.ai/2026/10/eka-robotics-150m-series-a-1-45b-vision-force-action-model](https://timesof.ai/2026/10/eka-robotics-150m-series-a-1-45b-vision-force-action-model)

> Eka Robotics closed a $150M Series A at a $1.45B post-money valuation led by a16z and F-Prime, TechCrunch reported. a16z calls Eka's approach a Vision-Force-Action model trained mainly by reinforcement learning in physics simulation. Pick-rate figures are laboratory results: a16z cites up to 1,500 picks per hour in lab induction and bin-picking tasks.

Physical-AI investors are still paying unicorn prices for force-aware manipulation, even in a week when AI-infrastructure financing looked strained. **Eka Robotics**, founded by MIT professor **Pulkit Agrawal** and former Google DeepMind researcher **Tuomas Haarnoja**, closed a **$150 million** Series A at a **$1.45 billion** post-money valuation led by **a16z** and **F-Prime**, **TechCrunch** reported on **Tuesday, October 20**.

Instead of a vision-language-action stack, Eka pairs a force-sensitive gripper with a model trained mainly by reinforcement learning in physics simulation. **a16z** — the lead investor — calls it a **Vision-Force-Action** model. a16z partners **Yoko Li** and **Raghu Raghuram** wrote the firm's investment note.

## Lab performance claims

TechCrunch says the robot picks about **1,500** objects of up to **1 kg** an hour, against about **600** for a human, and that Eka says it succeeds more than **95%** of the time. **a16z** describes "up to **1,500** picks per hour in **laboratory** induction and bin-picking tasks," about 2.5× a human. Those are lab figures, not production-line results.

The gripper costs under **$1,000** and is rated for **5 million** duty cycles, against a **20 million** target for industrial arms, TechCrunch reports. Pilots with industrial customers in pick-and-place and wire handling are under way but undisclosed.

## Limits

- a16z is the lead investor; its post is not an independent check.
- Pick rates and reliability are company or laboratory claims.
- Field uptime and task generality beyond pick-and-place remain unproven in the coverage we read.

## Sources

- [TechCrunch: Eka is worth $1.45B thanks to a physical AI model (October 20, 2026)](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/20/eka-is-worth-1-45-billion-thanks-to-a-physical-ai-model-that-has-experts-raving/)
- [Andreessen Horowitz: Investing in Eka Robotics (October 20, 2026)](https://a16z.com/announcement/investing-in-eka-robotics/)