1X Technologies

1X Technologies (originally Halodi Robotics) was founded in 2014 by Norwegian roboticist Bernt Øivind Børnich and rebranded to 1X in 2022. The company is building NEO, a slim anthropomorphic bipedal humanoid designed for domestic environments — a sharply differentiated bet versus the industrial-first strategies of Figure, Apptronik, and Agility. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with manufacturing in Hayward and Moss, Norway, 1X opened NEO preorders in October 2025 at $20,000 (with a $499/month rental alternative), targeting 2026 deliveries. Near-term operation relies heavily on human teleoperators, with on-device autonomy expanding over time. The company disclosed a strategic partnership with EQT in December 2025 to place up to 10,000 NEO units into EQT's global portfolio of factories and warehouses. 1X raised a $100M Series B in January 2024 led by EQT Ventures, and reports as of late 2025 indicated the company was pursuing a ~$1B Series C at approximately $10B valuation. Backers include OpenAI Startup Fund, Tiger Global, EQT, Samsung NEXT, Sandwater, and Skagerak Capital.

1X is the most credible consumer-humanoid bet, willing to accept teleop-assisted autonomy to get a general-purpose robot into homes before competitors.

1x.tech Consumer Humanoid

United Statesprivate

At a glance

Total raised

$237M

last round series b

Headcount

201-500

approximate · public range

Headquarters

Palo Alto

United States

Founded

2014

12 years active

Status

Private

Consumer Humanoid

Subsector

Consumer Humanoid

Home Robot Bet

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Funding history

Total raised

$237M

Rounds tracked

Latest stage

Series B

Date	Stage	Amount	Valuation	Lead investors
Jan 11, 2024	Series B	$100M	—	EQT Ventures

Founder backgrounds

Bernt Øivind Børnich

Founder & CEO

Holds a bachelor's in Robotics and Nano-electronics from the University of Oslo, where he invented the Revo1 motor — a direct-drive servomotor claimed to be the highest torque-to-weight in its class — while still a student. He founded the company in 2014 as Halodi Robotics in Moss, Norway, initially focused on "soft" robotics and the EVE wheeled humanoid, before renaming it to 1X Technologies in 2023 to mark a shift toward general-purpose bipedal robots. The company's NEO robot is backed by OpenAI and EQT Ventures. Børnich serves as both CEO and CTO, maintaining direct technical ownership over the hardware and actuation design that distinguish 1X's approach from competitors like Tesla and Figure AI.

AI bull / bear

Bull case

1X has threaded a razor-thin needle: it's the first to credibly put a general-purpose humanoid into consumers' homes. The $20,000 NEO preorder (with $499/month rental) and 2026 delivery timeline give it a hard, revenue-generating milestone while rivals remain in R&D. The EQT partnership to deploy up to 10,000 units across 300+ enterprise sites provides both distribution and a massive real-world data corpus—crucial to train the 1XWM world model that enables zero-shot task performance without robot-specific fine-tuning. Raising a reported $1B at a $10B valuation signals deep investor conviction, anchored by OpenAI Startup Fund and EQT Ventures. The teleop-first "human-in-the-loop" model isn't a retreat; it's a data flywheel that monetizes early while gathering the exact trajectories needed to bootstrap autonomy by 2027. With manufacturing in Hayward and Norway, 1X controls the full stack and can iterate hardware faster than CAD-only competitors. If the world model scales, 1X captures consumer and enterprise simultaneously.

Bear case

1X's teleop dependency is a double-edged sword. Heavy reliance on remote human pilots means unit economics crater if autonomy lags; each $20,000 NEO becomes a subscription-support liability, not a margin-rich product. The departure of VP of AI Eric Jang and co-founder Phuong Nguyen—the "principal inventor"—within months signals internal friction and potential brain drain at a critical inflection point. Figure CEO Brett Adcock openly dismissed teleoperation as non-viable, and the industry debate around "selling the dream" versus shipping autonomy is intensifying. Consumer privacy fears around in-home cameras and remote operators could stall adoption, especially if a data breach occurs. The $10B valuation hinges on world models delivering step-function autonomy by 2027—an unproven thesis. Meanwhile, Tesla's Optimus and Figure's autonomous-first approach may leapfrog 1X if foundation models unlock generalization faster than teleoperated data collection. If NEO ships as a $20K telepresence toy rather than an autonomous assistant, the valuation collapses and the market writes off consumer humanoids for years.

Generated by claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929 · April 25, 2026Refreshes quarterly · see disclosures

In the news

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Leadership

Bernt Øivind Børnich

Founder & CEO

in 𝕏

Products

NEO
Bipedal home humanoid robot designed specifically for residential environments, standing 165 cm and weighing 30 kg to fit standard doorways and reach countertops. Encased in a soft 3D-lattice polymer structure with fully covered joints, making it pinch-proof for homes with children. Uses proprietary Tendon Drive actuation with 95% backdrivability for compliant, safe movements while maintaining high power output. Powered by Redwood AI—1X's Generalist AI model—for learning and repeating tasks. Commenced full-scale production at 1X's vertically integrated factory in Hayward, California as of April 30, 2026, with first orders shipping to consumer homes in 2026.
EVE
Wheeled humanoid robot designed for industrial and institutional use in logistics, security, and healthcare. Standing 6 feet 2 inches and weighing 192 pounds, EVE can travel at 9 mph and carry 33-pound loads. 1X designed proprietary Revo1 direct-drive motors, claiming them the "world's highest torque to weight" servos. EVE's standout capability is embodied learning—combining robotics and AI to understand natural language without specific commands, breaking complex tasks into actionable steps. It serves as a platform for testing 1X's proprietary actuation, perception, and manipulation technologies.

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1X Technologies

At a glance

Subscribe to see the full profile

Funding history

Founder backgrounds

Bernt Øivind Børnich

AI bull / bear

In the news

1X begins production of NEO humanoids in California facility

Video Friday: Figure, 1X Ramp Up Humanoid Robot Production

1X Goes Vertical: Inside the Hayward Factory Aiming for 100,000 Humanoids

The Robot in the Box: 1X Teases NEO Delivery Logistics as Humanoid Production War Heats Up

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Leadership

Products

NEO

EVE

Open roles