XDOF, just three months out of stealth, is in talks for a Series B at a $1.2B valuation
TechCrunch
β’Fri, 04 Sep 2026 23:36:14 +0000
π° What Happened
XDOF, a startup that collects real-world teleoperation data for training general-purpose robots, is in late-stage talks to raise a Series B at a valuation of about $1.2 billion, led by 8VC, according to several people with knowledge of the deal. The round comes less than three months after the company emerged from stealth. XDOF was co-founded in 2024 by UC Berkeley researchers Philipp Wu (CEO) and Fred Shentu (CTO), and raised a $70 million Series A in June with participation from Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Lux and Spark Capital. The terms of the deal are not final and could still change.
π The Backstory
XDOF's rapid growth, with annualised revenue approaching $50 million, prompted venture capitalists to approach the company about a new round even though it had not planned to raise again so soon. The startup builds the data pipelines, collection tools and annotation systems that frontier AI labs and robotics companies cannot easily build themselves, effectively acting as an outsourced data-supply chain for the robotics industry. Wu's research was previously impeded by a lack of large-scale data, which led the pair to build GELLO, a low-cost teleoperation system.
π― Why It Matters
Robotics data is emerging as one of the scarcest resources in AI, and companies that control the collection of training data for robots are being valued accordingly. A $1.2 billion valuation only months after exiting stealth shows how quickly investor demand is concentrating on the infrastructure that makes general-purpose robots possible.
XDOF, a startup that collects real-world teleoperation data for training general-purpose robots, is in late-stage talks to raise a Series B at a valuation of about $1.2 billion, led by 8VC, according to several people with knowledge of the deal. The round comes less than three months after the company emerged from stealth. XDOF was co-founded in 2024 by UC Berkeley researchers Philipp Wu (CEO) and Fred Shentu (CTO), and raised a $70 million Series A in June with participation from Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Lux and Spark Capital. The terms of the deal are not final and could still change.
XDOF's rapid growth, with annualised revenue approaching $50 million, prompted venture capitalists to approach the company about a new round even though it had not planned to raise again so soon. The startup builds the data pipelines, collection tools and annotation systems that frontier AI labs and robotics companies cannot easily build themselves, effectively acting as an outsourced data-supply chain for the robotics industry. Wu's research was previously impeded by a lack of large-scale data, which led the pair to build GELLO, a low-cost teleoperation system.
Robotics data is emerging as one of the scarcest resources in AI, and companies that control the collection of training data for robots are being valued accordingly. A $1.2 billion valuation only months after exiting stealth shows how quickly investor demand is concentrating on the infrastructure that makes general-purpose robots possible.