Summary
1X Technologies is a Norwegian-American robotics company developing bipedal humanoid robots for home and enterprise use. Its flagship product, NEO, is a $20,000 consumer humanoid designed to perform household chores such as laundry, dishwashing, and tidying, with first shipments to U.S. homes beginning in 2026. The company also continues to operate EVE, a wheeled humanoid deployed commercially in security and logistics settings since 2018.
Founded in 2014 in Moss, Norway, as Halodi Robotics by roboticist Bernt Børnich, the company spent nearly a decade developing proprietary low-inertia, cable-driven actuators—including the Revo1 motor—before rebranding as 1X Technologies in 2023 and pivoting decisively toward consumer humanoids. 1X has raised approximately $136.5 million in confirmed institutional funding from investors including the OpenAI Startup Fund, EQT Ventures, Samsung NEXT, and Tiger Global, and was reportedly in discussions as of September 2025 to raise up to $1 billion at a valuation exceeding $10 billion.
The company’s commercial strategy runs on two parallel tracks: a consumer push built around NEO’s home debut, and an enterprise channel anchored by a December 2025 partnership with private equity firm EQT to deploy up to 10,000 NEO units across EQT’s global portfolio companies between 2026 and 2030. 1X opened its first vertically integrated NEO Factory in Hayward, California, in 2026, with a target of scaling to more than 100,000 units annually by the end of 2027. The company has drawn both enthusiasm and scrutiny; NEO’s “Expert Mode,” which allows remote human operators to teleoperate the robot for complex tasks via VR headset, has raised questions about the robot’s true level of autonomy and the privacy implications of in-home cameras and microphones.
Company Story
Bernt Øivind Børnich founded the company in Moss, Norway, in May 2014 under the name Halodi Robotics, reportedly having decided at age 11 that he wanted to build humanoid robots. Børnich holds a degree in robotics and nanoelectronics from the University of Oslo and co-founded the company alongside Phuong Nguyen, who served as the company’s first Chief Technology Officer, along with Jørgen Sundell and Pål Løken.
Halodi’s initial focus was not humanoid robots themselves but the underlying hardware problem that makes safe human-robot interaction possible: actuators. The founding technical philosophy centered on reducing actuator inertia and friction so that a robot’s limbs could move safely and naturally around people, inspired by the mechanics of human tendon actuation. This research led to the Revo1 servo motor, a proprietary brushless DC motor using a low gear-ratio, cable-driven transmission that achieved an unusually high torque-to-weight ratio—marketed as the world’s highest torque-to-weight direct-drive servomotor.
In 2018, Halodi released its first commercial humanoid platform, EVE, a wheeled robot aimed at logistics, security, and healthcare environments. By 2021, the company had expanded beyond Norway with offices in Montreal and Oakland, California, and had built a pipeline of paid pilots with customers including Italian packaging firm Altopack, Norwegian retail technology supplier Strongpoint, Sunnaas Hospital, and Belgian elder-care organization I-Mens. That April, ADT Security Services invested in Halodi, setting the stage for what became, at the time, the largest disclosed humanoid robot order in the industry: a March 2022 agreement to lease 140 to 250 EVE units to ADT for commercial building security patrols, generating an estimated $7 million (70 million Norwegian kroner) in annual revenue.
In March 2023, the company rebranded from Halodi Robotics to 1X Technologies and closed a $23.5 million Series A2 round led by the OpenAI Startup Fund—making 1X the first robotics company to receive OpenAI Startup Fund investment—alongside Tiger Global and a group of Norwegian investors including Alliance VC, Sandwater, and Skagerak Capital. The rebrand coincided with a deliberate strategic pivot: 1X concluded that truly general-purpose robot intelligence could only be developed by deploying robots in the messy, unstructured diversity of private homes, rather than continuing to refine narrower industrial and security use cases.
Less than a year later, in January 2024, 1X closed a $100 million Series B led by EQT Ventures, with Samsung NEXT, the continuing OpenAI Startup Fund, Tiger Global, and Nistad Group participating, at a reported $820 million post-money valuation. The capital funded acceleration of the bipedal NEO platform, construction of a NEO factory in Hayward, California, and a wave of executive hires from Tesla, BMW, and SpaceX. In January 2025, 1X acquired Kind Humanoid, a three-person Palo Alto startup founded by former Stanford scientist and Google robotics researcher Christoph Kohstall, bringing Kohstall and Kind’s bio-inspired design and large-language-model expertise—developed on Kind’s Mona robot in collaboration with designer Yves Béhar—into 1X’s Bay Area operations.
1X unveiled the NEO Beta prototype in August 2024 and followed with NEO Gamma in February 2025, a substantially refined version featuring a soft knit-nylon exterior, whole-body walking and squatting control, improved general-purpose object manipulation, and a new in-house conversational language model. In September 2025, reports emerged that 1X was in discussions to raise up to $1 billion at a valuation of at least $10 billion—more than twelve times its Series B valuation—though the round remained unconfirmed in public filings as of mid-2026. That December, 1X and EQT announced a landmark enterprise partnership under which EQT committed to deploying up to 10,000 NEO units across its global portfolio companies in manufacturing, logistics, facility operations, and healthcare between 2026 and 2030.
1X opened NEO pre-orders in October 2025, offering a $20,000 early-access purchase option or a $499-per-month subscription, with first U.S. shipments promised for 2026 and international expansion planned from 2027. In April 2026, the company opened its first vertically integrated NEO Factory, a 58,000-square-foot facility in Hayward staffed by more than 200 employees, with an initial production capacity of 10,000 units per year and a stated goal of scaling to more than 100,000 units annually by the end of 2027, alongside a second facility under construction in San Carlos, California.
Founders
Bernt Børnich (Founder and CEO) has led the company since its founding in 2014. A Norwegian roboticist with a degree in robotics and nanoelectronics from the University of Oslo, Børnich is the inventor of the Revo1 actuator, the cable-driven, low-inertia motor system underpinning 1X’s robots. He has served as both CEO and CTO at various points in the company’s history and is a frequent public speaker, including a TED2025 talk titled “Meet NEO, your robot butler in training.” Børnich has been candid in press interviews about the current limits of NEO’s autonomy, describing the robot’s early teleoperated deployment as a deliberate strategy to collect the real-world data needed to eventually make NEO fully autonomous.
Phuong Nguyen (Co-founder, former CTO) co-founded the company alongside Børnich during the Halodi Robotics era and served as its first Chief Technology Officer, contributing to the early development of the company’s actuator technology and robotics platform.
Jørgen Sundell (Co-founder) was part of the founding team that established Halodi Robotics in Norway in 2014.
Pål Løken (Co-founder) co-founded the company and was also an early angel investor during the Halodi Robotics era, providing capital alongside Norwegian government grants and Nistad family investment that sustained the company through its first decade.
Products
NEO is 1X’s flagship consumer humanoid robot, marketed as “the world’s first consumer-ready humanoid robot designed to transform life at home.” Standing 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 66 pounds, NEO can carry up to 55 pounds and run for up to four hours on a single charge. It is designed to automate everyday chores such as unloading the dishwasher, doing laundry, watering plants, and general tidying. NEO is priced at $20,000 for early-access purchase or available via a $499-per-month subscription, with first U.S. shipments beginning in 2026 and international availability planned from 2027. For tasks beyond its current autonomous capability, NEO uses “Expert Mode,” in which a remote 1X employee wearing a VR headset teleoperates the robot after the owner schedules and approves a session; the robot’s Emotive Ear Rings glow to indicate when a human operator is active, and owners can set no-go zones and face-blurring options to manage privacy.
NEO Gamma is the current-generation NEO platform, unveiled in February 2025 as a successor to the NEO Beta prototype shown in August 2024. It features a soft, 3D-knitted nylon exterior designed to reduce injury risk from robot-to-human contact, tendon-driven actuation encased in soft covers for passive safety, and a multipurpose whole-body controller enabling a natural human gait, squatting, and sitting. Gamma includes a visual manipulation model trained to pick up a wide variety of objects, including ones not seen during training, and a new in-house large language model supporting natural conversation and body language through a “Companion” feature set. Hardware improvements include a reported 10x increase in reliability, a 10 dB reduction in operating noise (comparable to a refrigerator), four beamforming microphones, and a three-speaker audio system.
EVE is 1X’s original wheeled humanoid platform, first introduced in 2018 and still in active commercial deployment as of 2025. Designed for logistics, security, and healthcare environments, EVE has been used for mobile manipulation tasks such as package handling and facility night patrols. Its largest disclosed commercial deployment is a 2022 agreement with ADT Security Services (operating as Everon) for 140 to 250 units, generating roughly $7 million in annual lease revenue. Other EVE customers have included Altopack, Strongpoint, Sunnaas Hospital, and I-Mens. EVE continues to provide 1X with real-world operational data that feeds into the company’s embodied AI models even as R&D resources have shifted toward NEO.
Funding
1X has raised approximately $136.5 million in confirmed institutional equity funding across two rounds, plus pre-institutional capital from Norwegian government grants, family investment from the Nistad family, and angel funding from co-founder Pål Løken during the decade-long Halodi Robotics era.
The company’s first institutional round was a $23.5 million Series A2 in March 2023, led by the OpenAI Startup Fund at a post-money valuation of approximately $210 million, with participation from Tiger Global and Norwegian investors Alliance VC, Sandwater, and Skagerak Capital. This made 1X the first robotics company to receive investment from the OpenAI Startup Fund. Less than a year later, in January 2024, 1X closed a $100 million Series B led by EQT Ventures at a reported $820 million post-money valuation, with Samsung NEXT, the continuing OpenAI Startup Fund, Tiger Global, and Nistad Group participating. As part of the Series B, existing investor Sandwater increased its stake through a secondary transaction.
In September 2025, multiple outlets including The Information reported that 1X had entered discussions to raise up to $1 billion in a new round at a valuation of $10 billion or more—more than twelve times its Series B valuation. As of mid-2026, this round had not been confirmed as closed in public filings, company announcements, or standard funding trackers such as Crunchbase, PitchBook, or Tracxn, all of which continued to list confirmed total funding at $136.5 million.
Beyond equity, ADT Security Services made a direct strategic investment in Halodi in April 2021 ahead of its landmark 2022 robot-leasing agreement, giving 1X an early example of an investor converting into a commercial customer—a pattern later repeated with EQT, which moved from Series B lead investor to anchor enterprise customer through its December 2025 fleet-deployment commitment.
Partnerships
1X’s most consequential enterprise partnership is with EQT, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, which led 1X’s Series B in January 2024 and then, in December 2025, committed to deploying up to 10,000 NEO units across companies in its global portfolio between 2026 and 2030, spanning manufacturing, logistics, facility operations, and healthcare. Industry analysis characterizes this as a deployment ceiling and volume commitment rather than confirmed, individually priced purchase orders, but it nonetheless gives 1X a large-scale enterprise distribution channel to run in parallel with its consumer launch.
ADT Security Services was one of 1X’s earliest and most important commercial partners, first investing in the company in 2021 and then signing an agreement in 2022 for 140 to 250 EVE units for commercial building security patrols—at the time the largest disclosed humanoid robot order in the industry. The relationship gave 1X (then Halodi) crucial early revenue and real-world deployment data.
OpenAI has been a strategic investor and technology partner since 2023, when the OpenAI Startup Fund led 1X’s Series A2 round and became the first robotics investment for the fund. The relationship has continued through 1X’s Series B and reflects broader industry dynamics in which large AI labs are investing in humanoid hardware as a physical embodiment layer for foundation models.
Samsung NEXT, Samsung’s venture investment arm, joined as a new investor in the Series B round in January 2024, alongside continuing Nordic backers Nistad Group, Sandwater, and Skagerak Capital, reflecting the company’s Norwegian roots even as its operational center of gravity shifted to California.
Other early commercial pilot customers for the EVE platform included Italian packaging company Altopack, Norwegian retail technology firm Strongpoint, Sunnaas Hospital in Norway, and Belgian elder-care organization I-Mens, providing 1X with diverse deployment data across logistics, retail, healthcare, and elder care use cases before the company’s pivot to consumer robotics.
Timeline
2014 — Bernt Børnich founds Halodi Robotics in Moss, Norway, alongside co-founders Phuong Nguyen, Jørgen Sundell, and Pål Løken, initially focused on safe actuator and full-body control technology.
2018 — Halodi introduces the Revo1 actuator and unveils EVE, its first wheeled humanoid robot aimed at logistics, security, and healthcare applications.
2021 — Halodi expands operations to Montreal and Oakland, California. ADT Security Services makes a strategic investment in the company in April.
2022 — Halodi signs a landmark agreement with ADT for 140 to 250 EVE units, generating approximately $7 million in annual lease revenue and marking the industry’s largest disclosed humanoid robot order to date.
2023 — Company rebrands from Halodi Robotics to 1X Technologies in March and closes a $23.5 million Series A2 led by the OpenAI Startup Fund, becoming the fund’s first robotics investment. The company pivots its strategic focus toward consumer home robotics.
2024 — 1X closes a $100 million Series B led by EQT Ventures in January at an $820 million post-money valuation. The company unveils the NEO Beta home-robot prototype in August, demonstrating voice control and task chaining.
2025 — 1X acquires Kind Humanoid in January, bringing founder Christoph Kohstall into the company. NEO Gamma is unveiled in February with major hardware and AI upgrades. Reports emerge in September of a planned $1 billion Series C at a $10 billion-plus valuation. NEO pre-orders open in October at $20,000 (or $499/month). In December, 1X and EQT announce a partnership to deploy up to 10,000 NEO units across EQT’s portfolio companies through 2030.
2026 — 1X opens its first vertically integrated NEO Factory in Hayward, California, in April, with 200+ employees and initial capacity for 10,000 units annually. First consumer NEO shipments begin in the U.S., with a target of scaling to over 100,000 units per year by the end of 2027 as a second factory comes online in San Carlos, California.
Market Context
1X Technologies occupies a distinctive position in the crowded humanoid robotics field by pursuing the consumer home market as its primary near-term target, in contrast to competitors like Figure AI, Agility Robotics, and Apptronik, which have concentrated on industrial, warehouse, and logistics applications. This consumer-first strategy is both 1X’s biggest differentiator and its biggest execution risk: no company has previously shipped a general-purpose humanoid robot into private homes at meaningful volume, and the technical bar for safe, reliable operation in unstructured domestic environments—with children, pets, stairs, and countless unpredictable objects—is arguably higher than in a controlled warehouse.
The company’s reliance on remote teleoperation through its “Expert Mode” feature has become a focal point of both technical and ethical debate. Wall Street Journal technology columnist Joanna Stern reported that many tasks demonstrated during a hands-on test were being performed by a human operator rather than the robot’s own AI, and 1X’s own public messaging has described NEO as roughly 60 to 70 percent autonomous at launch, with teleoperation covering the remainder. CEO Bernt Børnich has been transparent that this is a deliberate strategy—each teleoperated session in a real home generates training data intended to accelerate NEO’s path to full autonomy—but the approach has drawn criticism from commentators who argue it overstates the robot’s actual intelligence, as well as privacy researchers concerned about in-home cameras and microphones streaming data to remote operators and company servers, potential cross-border data transfer, and the security risk of an always-connected, camera-equipped device inside the home.
Competitively, 1X is far smaller by disclosed valuation than Figure AI, which raised $1 billion in 2025 at a reported $39 billion valuation, underscoring how much capital the leading humanoid startups are commanding even before reaching commercial scale. 1X’s reported pursuit of a $1 billion round at a $10 billion-plus valuation would still leave it well behind Figure on paper, though 1X’s earlier mover status in the consumer segment, its vertically integrated actuator technology inherited from the Halodi era, and its EQT enterprise-deployment channel give it a differentiated position. The involvement of OpenAI as both an early investor and a signal of confidence in humanoid hardware as a complement to foundation models has also been a recurring theme in coverage of the space.
The EQT partnership represents a notable structural innovation: rather than a typical customer relationship, 1X’s Series B lead investor converted into an anchor enterprise customer, committing its portfolio companies to deploy up to 10,000 units. This dual investor-customer arrangement, if it converts into real purchase volume, would materially de-risk 1X’s enterprise revenue relative to peers still searching for their first large deployments. However, industry analysts caution that the EQT commitment represents deployment optionality rather than confirmed, priced orders, and the actual pace of enterprise adoption through 2030 remains to be demonstrated.
Looking ahead, three factors are likely to determine 1X’s trajectory: whether the reported $1 billion Series C closes at or near its targeted terms; the real-world performance, reliability, and return rates of the first NEO units shipped to consumer homes in 2026; and whether the EQT enterprise commitment converts into actual, revenue-generating deployments. Success on these fronts could establish 1X as the first company to successfully commercialize a general-purpose humanoid robot for home use; failure to deliver reliable autonomy or to close new funding on favorable terms could expose the gap between the company’s ambitious vision and the current state of humanoid robot intelligence.
Source Notes
This profile draws on 1X Technologies’ own press releases and product pages, Wikipedia, and independent research and journalism from Contrary Research, robotics.press, Komo, Grokipedia, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, The Robot Report, and Tech Startups.
Funding figures reflect confirmed institutional rounds as reported by Contrary Research, Komo, and TechCrunch: a $23.5 million Series A2 in March 2023 at a ~$210 million post-money valuation, and a $100 million Series B in January 2024 at a ~$820 million post-money valuation. The reported $1 billion Series C at a $10 billion-plus valuation, first disclosed in September 2025 by The Information and covered by Tech Startups and other outlets, remained unconfirmed in public filings as of mid-2026 and is noted throughout this profile as unconfirmed.
Company history, including the Halodi Robotics era, the Revo1 actuator, and the EVE-ADT deployment, is drawn from Wikipedia, Aparobot, and Contrary Research’s detailed company breakdown. NEO and NEO Gamma product details are sourced directly from 1X’s official product announcements and corroborated by The Robot Report, TechCrunch, and Notebookcheck coverage.
Discussion of NEO’s teleoperation (“Expert Mode”) and associated autonomy and privacy questions draws on reporting from PCMag, BGR, InsideEVs, Captain Compliance, and a widely circulated LinkedIn analysis, all of which reference the Wall Street Journal’s hands-on testing of NEO. These sources are presented to give a balanced view of both the company’s stated roadmap toward autonomy and the substantive criticism the approach has attracted. Given the fast-moving nature of 1X’s fundraising and shipping timeline, financial and production figures should be re-verified against current sources.