Robots and the new physical AI gold rush

About this episode

Two Kiwi engineers who helped build the future of self‑driving cars in Silicon Valley are now quietly laying the foundations for the next great tech wave: physical AI.

In the latest episode of The Business of Tech, I talk to Harry Mellsop, co‑founder of simulation startup Antioch, and Adrian Macneil, co‑founder and CEO of data platform Foxglove, for a fast‑paced tour of where robotics is really at as Elon Musk talks up his Optimus humanoid robots.

Both founders cut their teeth at the pointy end of autonomy. Harry worked on Tesla’s Autopilot, watching first‑hand how much time and money is burned putting robots into the real world safely. Adrian led key parts of Cruise’s self‑driving infrastructure and developer tooling, helping build the internal platforms that let engineers understand what a robot “saw”, “thought” and did on the streets of San Francisco.

Big dollars for physical AI startups

That experience has now crystallised into two companies sitting at the infrastructure layer of physical AI – and investors are paying attention. Foxglove has raised US$40 million US in Series B funding, led by Bessemer Venture Partners with Icehouse Ventures on the cap table, to build the data and observability backbone for robotics teams. Antioch has secured US$4.2 million US dollars in pre‑seed funding, with Icehouse Ventures again involved, to bring Tesla‑grade cloud simulation to any robotics startup that wants to test thousands of edge cases virtually before a robot ever leaves the lab.

Integration testing for atoms

We explore how these platforms turn messy real‑world sensor feeds into structured insights, shorten development cycles from weeks to hours, and dramatically reduce the risks of unleashing autonomous machines into warehouses, construction sites and farms. Harry explains why “integration testing for atoms” is the missing link in robotics, and how simulation can slash the cost of safety validation. Adrian unpacks the idea of a data flywheel for robots – logging everything, surfacing the rare but dangerous failures, and feeding that back into better models and better code.

If you want to know where AI goes next, why humanoids are still relatively clunky despite the viral demo videos, and how New Zealand founders are quietly shaping the infrastructure every serious robotics company will rely on, tune into episode 133 of The Business of Tech, streaming on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks to our sponsor, 2degrees.

Show notes

Kiwi Harry Mellsop raises $7.3m for his physical-world AI start-up Antioch - NZ Herald

Physical infrastructure AI firm Foxglove, headed by Kiwi Adrian Macneil, raises US$40m - NZ Herald

The Missing Infrastructure Holding Robotics Back with Adrian Macneil - The Machine Minds Show

Rise of the robots: the promise of physical AI - AFP

Physical AI: robotics are poised to revolutionise business - FT

Humanoid robots take over CES in Las Vegas as tech industry touts future of AI - CNB

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