Ex-Meta AI research director raises $10.25M from Trilogy and Madrona for stealth physical AI startup

Former Meta AI Director Raises $10.25M to Build Real-World Learning Robots

Physical AI represents one of the most ambitious frontiers in technology today, and a new startup founded by a former Meta AI research director has secured significant early backing to pursue it. The company, still operating in stealth mode, raised 10.25 million dollars in seed funding from Trilogy Equity Partners and Madrona Venture Group. This investment reflects growing confidence among venture capitalists that combining advanced artificial i…

AI’s Next Frontier Is Physical Items

On this episode of Adventures in AI, Fast Company speaks to Alexander Reben, an entrepreneur, roboticist and cofounder of Phyzify, a lab using AI tools to create physical objects based on your imagination.

Ex-Meta AI research director raises $10.25M from Trilogy and Madrona for stealth physical AI startup

Kevin Carlberg, who led AI research teams at Meta focused on wearable computing, has raised $10.25 million for Noosphere Labs, a stealth startup working on what it calls "human-centered physical intelligence." Trilogy Equity Partners led the round, with major participation from Madrona.

The cost floor under the physical AI boom

Investors have put $60 million behind Mecka AI’s promise to turn petabytes of video into robot training data at a margin. One engineer, four months into the job, owns the number that decides whether the promise holds. Money is moving toward robots again. In June, Mecka AI, a two-year-old company that sells training data for physical AI, announced $60 million in funding: a $25 million Series A that closed quietly in November 2025, led by Framewor…