Robotics data startup Mecka AI is nearing a new funding round led by Sequoia Capital at a valuation of about $500 million, according to people familiar with the deal. The financing would come only three months after the company announced $60 million in funding led by Framework Ventures.
The size of the new round has not been disclosed, and its terms could still change. Mecka did not respond to a request for comment, while Sequoia declined to comment.
Mecka Collects Human Data to Train Robots
Founded in 2024, Mecka was created by Josh Gao, Mogen Cheng, Jason Chong and Duy Nguyen. Gao and Cheng previously built a restaurant fintech startup, while Chong joined Coinbase after the cryptocurrency exchange acquired his company.
None of the four founders came from robotics backgrounds. They instead identified a shortage of physical-world training data as a constraint on developing general-purpose robots and began building infrastructure to capture how humans perform everyday tasks.
Mecka pays people to record activities such as making coffee or repairing cars using smartphones, body sensors and other equipment. The resulting motion and interaction data can then be processed for training humanoid robots and other physical AI systems.
In its official company materials, Mecka describes itself as the data and deployment layer for physical AI, connecting robotics hardware, AI models and commercial deployments. Its Egoverse platform contains first-person human interaction data designed to help models learn how people move, manipulate objects and complete tasks.
The approach differs from teleoperation, where human operators directly control robots to generate training examples. Mecka instead captures human behavior independently of the robot hardware that may later learn from the data.
Funding Follows Rapid Revenue Expectations
Mecka announced $60 million in funding in June, led by Framework Ventures with participation from Menlo Ventures, SV Angel and Kindred Ventures. Gao said at the time that Mecka expected to reach a $100 million annual revenue run rate by the end of 2026 based on signed contracts.
The company has not publicly identified its customers. Robotics companies and AI labs increasingly use first-person recordings alongside teleoperation and other physical data sources to train models that need to operate in real environments.
Interest in the sector has also lifted valuations of competing data companies. Robotics training-data startup XDOF was recently reported to be seeking funding at a $1.2 billion valuation.
The potential Sequoia-led round would give Mecka a new valuation only months after its previous financing as investors continue funding companies that supply the data required to train physical AI systems.
Featured image credits: Jobs
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