Addverb Technologies, the Indian robotics startup controlled by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, is raising more than $100m to fund development of humanoid and quadruped robots and the AI systems to train them.
CEO Sangeet Kumar told Bloomberg the company wants to reach the global top 10 in robotics within five years and the top five within 10. Addverb currently ranks outside the top 30.
That is a gap measured not in positions but in industrial capability. The companies above Addverb include Fanuc, ABB, KUKA, Unitree and Tesla's Optimus programme, all of which have deeper engineering teams, larger production facilities and years of head start.
Addverb automation
The company makes robots for sorting, material movement and factory automation, serving logistics firms, warehouses and electronics manufacturers. It operates across more than two dozen countries, with half its revenue coming from outside India, including operations in the US, the Netherlands and Australia.
Revenue is projected at $136m this fiscal year, supported by an order book of roughly $200m. The company has not yet reported a net profit, having absorbed losses from international expansion, but says it is on track to return to adjusted profitability.
Addverb employs 1,100 people and has annual manufacturing capacity for 100,000 robots. Its Elixis-W, a wheeled humanoid, is the first step into the humanoid market.
China problem
The raise is framed around one strategic challenge: competing with Chinese robotics manufacturers that benefit from government subsidies, dense supply chains and component costs that Indian firms cannot match.
Kumar's response is vertical integration. Addverb plans to launch proprietary lidar sensors after more than two years of internal development, reducing reliance on imported Chinese components. The $100m will also fund data collection and AI training systems for more sophisticated machines.
The logic is sound. If you cannot beat Chinese manufacturers on cost, you build your own components and compete on capability instead. Whether a $136m revenue company can out-engineer firms backed by the Chinese state industrial complex is the question the strategy does not answer.
Ambani factor
Reliance invested $132m in 2021 and holds a controlling 54% stake. Addverb's robots already operate across Reliance's oil and gas storage facilities, refineries and solar factories. The two companies are planning joint work on 5G robotics and battery systems.
Ambani's backing gives Addverb a captive customer base, manufacturing infrastructure and political access that an independent startup would struggle to assemble. It also ties the company's trajectory to Reliance's broader industrial strategy, which increasingly positions India as a manufacturing alternative to China.
No guarantees
A $100m raise for a company outside the global top 30 is a statement of intent, not a guarantee of arrival. The humanoid robot market is attracting Tesla, Unitree, Figure AI, Boston Dynamics and every major industrial automation company in the world.
Addverb's advantage is that it is the largest Indian robotics company in a market where India's government is actively seeking to reduce Chinese dependency across manufacturing. The disadvantage is that ambition and subsidy do not build robots. Engineering does.
The top 10 in five years is a bold target. The $100m is the first instalment on a bet that will require many more.
