Tech
Schaeffler Bet 1,000 to 2,000 Humanoid Robots on a $100M Startup
Schaeffler committed to between 1,000 and 2,000 humanoid robots from a startup funded entirely by its founder, then signed itself as that startup's preferred actuator supplier.
Schaeffler committed on May 13 to between 1,000 and 2,000 humanoid robots from a two-year-old UK startup, the largest disclosed single-customer order in the sector.
The robots come from Humanoid, a company founded by Artem Sokolov in London in 2024. Sokolov is the company's sole investor. He has put $100 million of personal capital into the startup; no institutional co-investors are on the cap table.
Before Schaeffler, HMND01's only documented deployment was a two-week trial at a Siemens Electronics Factory. The robot moved totes at 60 per hour and logged greater than 90% pick-and-place success on a live production floor.
The first units go live at Schaeffler's Herzogenaurach and Schweinfurt plants between December 2026 and June 2027. The contract is Robots-as-a-Service, bundling hardware, fleet management, and 24/7 support; contract value was not disclosed.
Prior Scale
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada signed for seven Agility Digit units in February; BMW's Spartanburg plant ran one Figure 02 through eleven months. Schaeffler's floor of 1,000 units is roughly 143 times Toyota's order; the ceiling of 2,000 is 285 times.
Schaeffler reported €23.5 billion in 2025 revenue, with 110,753 employees across four divisions. Herzogenaurach, where the first deployment begins, is also the company's global headquarters.
The Actuator Side
The deployment came paired with a five-year supply agreement. Schaeffler becomes Humanoid's preferred actuator vendor, covering more than 50% of the joint actuators required through 2031. The companies described that commitment as "a seven-digit number of actuators," meaning at least one million units.
The actuator clause changes the math on Schaeffler's downside. Buying from a startup while controlling supply of its key components means Schaeffler captures component revenue whether HMND01 scales or stalls. That hedge is written into the contract by a manufacturer large enough to absorb a startup's failure.
HMND01's six-month production trial at Schweinfurt opens in December 2026. The throughput and uptime numbers from that window are the only factory data Humanoid carries into a Series A far larger than $100 million.