Agility Robotics to go public through $2.5 billion SPAC merger

Agility Robotics has agreed to go public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company Churchill Capital Corp XI, in a deal that values the humanoid robotics developer at a pre-money equity value of $2.5 billion. The transaction is expected to generate more than $620 million in gross proceeds, including approximately $200 million from a private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing led by Foxconn, alongside existing and new institutional investors. Once the deal closes, the combined company is expected to operate as Agility and trade on a major North American stock exchange under the ticker symbol AGLT. The Oregon-based company develops the Digit humanoid robot, which is designed for manufacturing, distribution and logistics applications. Agility says Digit is already deployed in commercial environments with customers including Schaeffler, GXO, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, and Mercado Libre. According to the company, Digit has accumulated more than 65,000 hours of operation across nine customer facilities. Agility also says it has secured more than $300 million in multi-year orders for its next-generation Digit v5 robot, subject to contractual milestones, with a customer pipeline of more than 30 companies. Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics, said: “Humanoid robots are a critical driver of American technology leadership and the future of global industry. “With category-defining commercially deployed humanoid robots operating in real customer environments today, Agility is at the forefront of a new era where safety-first, AI-powered technology can reliably work alongside people to bridge labor shortages, increase productivity, and strengthen the resilience of our supply chains. “We believe humanoids are at a meaningful inflection point in commercial adoption, and we are focused on meeting growing customer demand, expanding deployments, and advancing our roadmap across robotics, physical AI, safety systems, and enterprise software. “As adoption accelerates, we believe Agility is positioned to address a market opportunity across manufacturing, distribution, and logistics environments in the United States that is estimated by management to be approximately $1 trillion.” Agility says Digit v5 is designed to become the world’s first AI-enabled cooperatively safe humanoid robot, allowing robots and people to work together in shared industrial environments. The company says the robot is supported by its proprietary physical AI platform, which combines perception, reasoning and motion capabilities developed using data collected from commercial deployments. Jonathan Hurst, co-founder and chief robot officer of Agility Robotics, said: “We set out to build robots capable of performing useful physical work in environments designed for people, and that mission has been central to Agility from day one. “We believe cooperative safety is the critical unlock for scaled humanoid adoption, and our next generation Digit represents an important milestone toward a future where robots become trusted partners in the workplace.” Agility also highlighted its collaboration with Google DeepMind and Nvidia, which recently selected the company as the launch partner for Nvidia Halos, a safety platform for physical AI and humanoid robotics. To support commercial production, Agility has established RoboFab, a manufacturing facility designed to produce up to 10,000 humanoid robots annually, alongside its cloud-based Agility Arc platform for fleet management and deployment. The company says approximately 75 percent of Digit’s components are sourced within the United States. The boards of both Agility Robotics and Churchill Capital Corp XI have unanimously approved the proposed transaction, which is expected to close later this year, subject to shareholder approval, regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.