Cambridge and Oxford alumni have raised $3.34B to build robots

The battle between Oxford and Cambridge isn’t just confined to rowing.

The two universities have quietly built a deep-tech robotics pipeline, with alumni-founded ventures raising a combined $3.34 billion across industrial automation, autonomous vehicles, drones, and surgical robotics.

While Cambridge-founded robotics companies have raised $2.85 billion, Oxford alumni have raised $493 million and heating up fast. While Cambridge startups dominate in autonomous vehicles and healthcare robotics, Oxford’s ventures are making waves in industrial automation, drones, and retail robotics.

A common theme? Big-ticket acquisitions. From Bosch snapping up Five AI to Lyft acquiring Blue Vision Labs, UK robotics startups are becoming M&A targets.

Humanoid Robots

Cambridge-born K-Scale Labs is pioneering open-source humanoid robots, betting that crowdsourced innovation will accelerate embodied AI. Their flagship bot, Stompy, is a 4-foot humanoid designed to be built for under $10,000 using 3D-printable parts.

Backed by Y Combinator (W24), K-Scale’s team includes ex-Tesla, Meta, and Lockheed engineers, combining foundation models with scalable AI training. The move toward open-source robotics echoes trends in generative AI—democratizing access could be the fastest way to solve robotics’ biggest challenges.

Industrial Robotics

Oxford and Cambridge alumni have launched robotics startups targeting high-labor, high-cost industries - shipping, agriculture, and hazardous environments.

Neptune Robotics (Cambridge-affiliated) raised $17.25M in a Series A led by Sequoia China, Matrix Partners China, and SOSV to tackle biofouling on ship hulls, a problem that increases fuel consumption by up to 18%. Their AI-powered hull-cleaning ROVs are already deployed in 60 ports across China, with plans for global expansion.

Oxford’s Oxford Dynamics is focusing on defense and extreme environments, landing a £1M contract with the UK Ministry of Defence for its Strider robot, designed to handle chemical, biological, and nuclear threats.

Drones

Oxford-affiliated Skyports is scaling electric drone logistics after raising €103 million, backed by ACS Group and Groupe ADP. The company is building vertiports in Dubai by 2026 and expanding drone services for medical deliveries and offshore asset inspections.

Autonomous Vehicles

The UK’s AV Unicorn Cambridge-born Wayve has secured $1.05 billion—the largest AI investment in UK history—from SoftBank, Microsoft, and NVIDIA. The startup is pioneering Embodied AI for autonomous vehicles, moving beyond HD mapping to deep-learning-driven driving systems. With fleet partnerships with Ocado and Asda, Wayve is positioning itself as a global leader in next-gen AV and physical AI.

Oxford-founded Oxa has raised $225 million, developing "Universal Autonomy" software for driverless logistics across ports, airports, and industrial sites. Oxa’s 2024 acquisition of StreetDrone strengthens its drive-by-wire and teleoperation capabilities, targeting 24/7 autonomous fleets for supply chain efficiency.

The UK’s AV sector is seeing significant consolidation. Bosch acquired Five.ai (Cambridge) after it raised $78M, pivoting from robotaxis to B2B AV software. Lyft acquired Oxford-based Blue Vision Labs for $100M, integrating its AR-enhanced self-driving tech into its autonomous division. Expect more M&A activity as big auto and mobility players look to absorb deep-tech talent.

Oxford and Cambridge startups are also improving fieldwork and supply chains with autonomous off-road solutions. Burro (Oxford-affiliated) raised $24M for harvest-assist robots, autonomously transporting crops. August Robotics (Oxford-affiliated) is focusing on autonomous floor-marking robots, streamlining exhibition setup with major clients like Freeman and GES. Meanwhile, Dogtooth Robotics (Cambridge-affiliated) is solving labor shortages in farming with AI-driven strawberry-picking robots. Their fifth-generation machines inspect fruit quality and predict yield forecasts, with deployments across the UK and Australia.

Medical Robots

Cambridge is dominating surgical robotics, with two of the UK’s biggest players. CMR has raised a staggering $765M, including a $600M Series D led by SoftBank and Tencent, valuing it at $3B - Europe’s largest robotics fundraise. Its Versius system is now competing with Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci, expanding across the UK, US, Japan, and China.

Cambridge-born Medical Microinstruments (MMI) has raised $110M for its Symani Surgical System, which features the world’s smallest wristed robotic instruments for microsurgery. Now FDA-approved in the US, Symani is redefining precision surgery, with over 1,000 clinical cases across 35 countries.

I’ll be trying to keep an eye on the robotics scene - loosely defined, physical AI - over the next few months so if you know of anything interest, shoot me a message.