Oxford, UK – 24 March 2026 – Stateful Robotics, an embodied AI company spun out from the University of Oxford, has raised USD 4.8 million in a pre-seed round led by Amadeus Capital Partners and Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), with angel investment from Five founder Stan Boland.
The funding will accelerate deployment of Stateful Robotics’ platform, which brings an essential intelligence layer to robots operating in unpredictable, real-world environments.
Over the past five years, large language and other foundation models have massively improved robot perception and understanding of their surroundings, but most deployments still struggle when conditions change – a blocked aisle, an unexpected delivery, bad lighting, or a safety incident. Foundation models themselves do not remember what happened yesterday on a site, which routes usually fail, or how a particular asset behaves; that state has to be modelled, stored and updated explicitly.
By continuously integrating the robots’ data, task progress and historic performance into a dynamic AI model, Stateful Robotics delivers the means for robots to recall and plan missions in environments where tightly scripted approaches break down.
As Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Stateful Robotics, Professor Nick Hawes explains: “Stateless systems treat every decision in isolation and cannot remember previous incidents or how work actually flows through a site. Stateful’s platform builds a persistent, shared model of tasks, environments and past behaviour that lets robots adapt to disruption and complete missions safely without constant supervision.”
Stateful Robotics was co-founded by CEO Kirsty Lloyd-Jukes – previously CEO of Latent Logic, an Oxford spinout acquired by Alphabet’s Waymo in 2019 – together with Professor Nick Hawes, Professor David Parker and Dr Bruno Lacerda, whose decade-long research at Oxford University into autonomy, probabilistic verification and decision-making under uncertainty underpins Stateful’s technology. Stan Boland, serial entrepreneur and founder of autonomous vehicles platform, Five – acquired by Bosch in 2022 – joins as an investor and advisor.
“Mobile robots promise significant productivity gains, but scaling them requires constant reliability and clear, measurable outcomes in the real world,” said Kirsty Lloyd-Jukes, CEO and Co-Founder. “Most robots excel at “what now,” but fail at “what next,” especially when “next” is defined over hours and days, not just minutes. By maintaining a live model of each deployment based on patterns over time, our platform ensures that robots – be they single robot, robot fleets or human-robot teams – perform reliably and consistently.”
Dr. Manjari Chandran-Ramesh, Partner at Amadeus Capital Partners, added: “Robotics has moved from static arms, to mobile units in tightly controlled environments, and now into hybrid-human spaces like factories, hospitals and energy infrastructure. This progression demands a form of intelligence that can reason about changing context over time – not just react to a single camera frame or prompt. Stateful Robotics is tackling that challenge with a novel form of AI that can support mixed forms of robots that are genuinely useful in the industrial settings where mass commercial adoption is likely to happen first.”
Sam Harman, Partner and Head of Deep Tech at Oxford Science Enterprises, commented: “We’re at a point where robotics hardware has largely matured, yet the industry remains stalled by a critical bottleneck: the inability of machines to handle planning over longer time horizons. Stateful’s platform is the missing layer required to turn today’s promising deployments into robust, scalable real‑world solutions. They are uniquely placed to bridge the gap between world-class robotics research and the complex, high-stakes surroundings of global industry.”
Already live with pilot customers in sectors such as infrastructure and logistics, the pre-seed funding will be used to grow Stateful’s engineering team, enhance its performance engine and expand go-to-market efforts with industrial partners.
Dr Emmanuel Raptakis, Deputy Head of Licensing & Ventures – Physical Sciences, Oxford University Innovation, commented: “Stateful Robotics is a great example of how Oxford’s deep research base can translate into impactful commercial innovation. The company’s technology has the potential to enhance the performance, reliability and uptake of autonomous robotic systems across a wide range of demanding environments. We’re pleased to have worked in close partnership with the founders from the early days, supporting the company’s formation and helping to position it for investment and growth.”
Find out more about Stateful Robotics in the video below.
