Global venture capital investment in robotics startups reached $9.9 billion in Q3 2026, more than doubling the $4.3 billion recorded in Q3 2025 for a year-over-year increase of approximately 185%, according to Crunchbase data. Funding has remained near or above $10 billion per quarter throughout the first three quarters of 2026, driven largely by the race to develop physical AI systems. China and the United States dominated capital allocation, with Chinese robotics startups securing $13.2 billion and US-based firms raising $12.1 billion year-to-date. Germany ranked third at $1.7 billion. Notable mega-rounds included Guangzhou XPeng Robotics' $900 million raise and Shenzhen-based AI² Robotics' $736 million Series C on the Chinese side. In the US, Travis Kalanick's Atoms and Pittsburgh-based Skild AI both closed billion-dollar rounds, with Skild AI raising $1.4 billion for its Skild Brain robotics foundation model. Germany's Neura Robotics also raised $1.4 billion for cognitive robots.