Covariant vs Figure AI

Figure AI has a disclosed valuation of $39B, while Covariant's valuation is not publicly available, making a direct size comparison difficult. Figure AI employs 450 people.

Figure AI has raised more in total funding at $1.9B, compared to Covariant's $222M — a gap of $1.7B. Combined, the two companies have completed 5 known funding rounds.

Figure AI leads with an Awaira Score of 95/100, while Covariant sits at 70/100. That 25-point gap reflects real differences in funding, scale, and traction — it's not a vanity metric.

Covariant was founded by Pieter Abbeel in 2017. Figure AI was founded by Brett Adcock in 2022. Visit each company's profile on Awaira for a full founder biography.

Covariant: Covariant builds an AI robotic picking and automation platform that enables warehouse and fulfillment robots to handle the enormous variety of product shapes, sizes, and packaging types encountered in real-world logistics operations. The platform is built on RFM-1, a foundation model for robotics trained on one of the largest robotics datasets ever assembled, enabling generalized manipulation capabilities across new product types without task-specific retraining.\n\nThe company raised approximately 222 million USD and has deployed its AI in warehouse environments at major retailers and logistics operators in North America and Europe, with robots handling millions of picks per day across diverse SKU catalogs. Covariant was founded by researchers from UC Berkeley with foundational backgrounds in deep reinforcement learning for robotic manipulation.\n\nIntelligent robotic picking remains one of the hardest unsolved problems in warehouse automation, as the combinatorial variety of product types encountered in e-commerce fulfillment exceeds what rule-based vision systems can handle reliably. Covariant approach of training a generalist manipulation model on large-scale real-world robotics data parallels the approach that made large language models broadly capable, and represents one of the most technically credible attempts to bring general robot AI to industrial deployment at scale. Figure AI: Figure AI is a robotics company founded in 2022 that develops humanoid robots designed for industrial and commercial applications. The company focuses on creating general-purpose robots capable of performing complex physical tasks in real-world environments. Figure AI's primary technology centers on advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning systems that enable autonomous operation and human-robot collaboration. The company has raised $1.9 billion in funding across multiple rounds, achieving a valuation of $39 billion as of its Series C stage, reflecting significant investor confidence in the humanoid robotics sector. This valuation places Figure AI among the most valuable robotics startups globally. The company's approach emphasizes practical deployment in industries facing labor shortages and operational challenges. Figure AI competes in the growing humanoid robotics market alongside companies developing similar technologies. The company's competitive positioning is strengthened by substantial capital resources enabling rapid research and development. Figure AI has demonstrated prototypes and engaged with potential enterprise customers across manufacturing, logistics, and service sectors, though specific customer details remain largely confidential. The company's growth trajectory reflects the broader acceleration in AI-enabled robotics investment. Figure AI's development timeline suggests advancement toward commercial deployment, with the robotics industry expecting increased real-world implementations in the coming years. Figure AI has achieved unicorn status within two years of founding, indicating rapid progress in humanoid robotics commercialization despite the sector's technical complexity.

Covariant got there first, launching in 2017 — that's 5 years of extra runway. Figure AI didn't arrive until 2022. In AI, that kind of head start means more training data, deeper customer relationships, and a bigger talent moat.

Covariant has about 100-500 employees; Figure AI has about 450. A bigger team usually means more revenue or heavier VC backing, but in AI, small teams can build at massive scale.

Yes — they're direct rivals. Both Covariant and Figure AI compete in AI Robotics, targeting many of the same buyers. If you're evaluating one, you should be looking at the other.