Mecka AI, a New York startup that collects human motion data to train robots, has raised a USD 60 million Series B round. Sequoia led the round. Nvidia and Microsoft’s venture fund M12 also participated, along with other investors.
TechCrunch had earlier reported that the company was closing the round at a valuation of about USD 500 million. The deal adds Sequoia to a cap table that already includes Framework Ventures, Menlo Ventures, SV Angel and Kindred Ventures.
What Mecka AI does
Mecka AI pays people to record themselves doing ordinary tasks such as making coffee or repairing cars while wearing body sensors and carrying a smartphone. The resulting motion data is collected, analysed and packaged to train humanoid robots and other machines.
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The company’s name comes from mecha, the fictional giant robot of Japanese animation. Its founders describe the business as the robotics equivalent of Scale AI, Mercor and Surge, which supply human-generated data for language models.
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Mecka designs its own capture equipment. Josh Gao, the co-founder and chief executive, was in Shenzhen visiting a factory building that hardware when the company announced its earlier funding.
Who is behind it
Mecka AI was founded in 2024 by four entrepreneurs, none of whom came from robotics. Gao and Mogen Cheng, both Canadian, had previously built a restaurant fintech business. Jason Chong joined Coinbase after it acquired his crypto exchange. Duy Nguyen, the only non-Canadian in the group, runs operations.
They entered the sector on a simple observation. General-purpose robots were being held back less by model design than by the shortage of real-world physical data. That gap is what the company set out to fill.
Funding history and what comes next
The new round follows two earlier raises that were never separately announced. In June 2026, Mecka disclosed a total of USD 60 million. That covered a USD 25 million Series A closed in November and a USD 35 million follow-on. Framework Ventures led both, with Menlo Ventures, SV Angel, Kindred Ventures and angel investor Ted Xiao taking part.
The October round is a separate USD 60 million, this time led by Sequoia. Robotic training data has become one of the more competitive corners of AI investing. XDOF was in talks to raise at a USD 1.2 billion valuation. Language-model data companies including Scale AI and Micro1 have started moving into robotics as well.