Agility Robotics, the Oregon-based developer of the bipedal Digit robot, has announced its intention to become a publicly traded company through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The transaction values the firm at approximately $2.5 billion, and according to the company's announcement on June 24, the deal is expected to generate more than $620 million in gross proceeds. Those funds are earmarked for product development, expansion, research and development, and related corporate purposes.
The move marks a notable first: Agility will become the first U.S.-listed company whose entire business is devoted to humanoid robots. No other pure-play American humanoid firm has previously attempted a public listing. The deal is expected to close in 2026, subject to shareholder approval and review by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The valuation implied by the SPAC merger represents a step up from Agility's most recent private market pricing. The company closed a $400 million Series C round in March 2025 at a valuation of approximately $2.12 billion. Across its entire funding history, Agility has raised more than $640 million. The public listing, if completed at the reported valuation, would place a public-market premium on a company whose central proposition is that its robot performs paid work for real customers.
Agility's Digit robot has logged more than 65,000 hours of operational time inside warehouses and manufacturing facilities. The company has named Toyota, GXO, Schaeffler, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, and Mercado Libre as deployment customers. Its investor base includes Nvidia, Amazon, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Foxconn, and DCVC.
The company has also disclosed that it has booked more than $300 million in multi-year orders for its upcoming Digit v5 model. That model's commercial launch is scheduled for 2026, pending certification through the NVIDIA Halos process, which will determine how quickly cooperative safety operations can be formally approved at enterprise customer sites.
Agility is not the only humanoid company seeking public-market capital, but it is the only U.S. pure-play doing so. China's Unitree Robotics, which the source material identifies as the global volume leader in humanoid shipments with more than 5,500 units delivered in 2025, filed for a listing on Shanghai's STAR Market in March 2026, seeking to raise approximately $608 million. China's Agibot is pursuing a Hong Kong IPO at a reported valuation of $5.1 billion to $6.4 billion. EngineAI has confidentially filed for a Hong Kong listing, according to the source material.
The SPAC route itself is notable. Most of the best-capitalised humanoid companies have remained private and raised substantial sums to fund development. Agility's decision to go public through a SPAC, rather than a traditional initial public offering, invites scrutiny from investors who have seen the category attract enormous private investment and equally enormous private valuations. The public market will now have a chance to assess whether those valuations are justified by actual commercial traction.
Why it matters for European robot service
For European operators, integrators, and service providers working in logistics, manufacturing, and intralogistics, the Agility listing carries significance that extends beyond a single company's capital markets manoeuvre. It signals that humanoid robots are moving from the realm of demonstration and pilot projects into a phase where public investors will demand evidence of recurring revenue, repeat orders, and operational reliability.
The source material states that Digit has accumulated 65,000 hours of real-world operation. That figure, while modest compared to the cumulative operating hours of traditional industrial robots, is meaningful for a category that has struggled to prove its utility outside controlled environments. For European companies evaluating whether to invest in humanoid platforms, the availability of audited operational data from a publicly listed entity will be a new and useful reference point.
The $300 million in pre-orders for Digit v5 is another signal. Multi-year orders from named customers — Toyota, GXO, Schaeffler, Mercado Libre — suggest that at least some large enterprises are willing to commit capital to humanoid deployment at scale. European logistics providers, many of whom operate across borders with thin margins and chronic labour shortages, will be watching whether those orders convert into successful deployments. The source material notes that Digit is positioned for repetitive warehouse tasks such as moving totes between conveyors and storage — work that is dull, physically taxing, and chronically hard to staff. That description matches the pain points frequently cited by European warehouse operators.
The SPAC deal's structure also matters for the broader ecosystem. If Agility successfully completes the merger and begins trading, it will create a public benchmark for humanoid company valuations. European investors, who have largely participated in the humanoid sector through private funds or through exposure to larger technology conglomerates, will gain a direct equity route to the category. The source material explicitly notes that no such door has previously been open for investors who wanted pure-play exposure without routing through a private fund or a larger tech conglomerate.
The competitive landscape is also shifting. Unitree's STAR Market filing in China, Agibot's Hong Kong IPO pursuit, and EngineAI's confidential Hong Kong filing all indicate that humanoid companies are seeking public capital across multiple jurisdictions. For European service providers, this means a wider range of platforms and suppliers may become available, each with different financial disclosures, regulatory oversight, and operational track records. The source material does not disclose details about EngineAI's filing beyond its confidential submission, so the specifics of that transaction remain unknown.
The NVIDIA Halos certification process for Digit v5 is another point of relevance. The source material states that this certification will determine how quickly cooperative safety operation can be formally approved at enterprise customer sites. For European operators, safety certification is a critical gatekeeper. Any delay in certification will delay deployment timelines, and the source material does not specify a completion date for that process. What is known is that Digit v5's commercial launch is scheduled for 2026, pending that certification.
The Customer Acceleration Program, which the source material says includes a pipeline of more than 30 potential customers evaluating large-scale humanoid deployment, represents the next layer of potential contracted orders. Whether those evaluations convert into orders will define Agility's public-market story. For European companies, the program's existence suggests that Agility is actively courting enterprise customers beyond its named deployment partners, though the source material does not identify which of those 30-plus potential customers are based in Europe.
What buyers and operators should know
For organisations considering humanoid robot deployment, the Agility SPAC announcement provides several concrete data points, but also leaves important questions unanswered. The source material is clear about what is known: Agility has raised more than $640 million in total funding, closed a $400 million Series C at a $2.12 billion valuation in March 2025, and now seeks a public listing at a $2.5 billion valuation. The company has booked $300 million in multi-year Digit v5 orders. Digit has logged 65,000 hours of real-world operations. Named customers include Toyota, GXO, Schaeffler, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, and Mercado Libre. Backers include Nvidia, Amazon, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Foxconn, and DCVC.
What is not disclosed in the source material is equally important. The specific terms of the Digit v5 orders — including delivery schedules, service-level agreements, and pricing — are not provided. The source material does not state how many Digit v5 units are covered by the $300 million in pre-orders, nor does it specify the breakdown of orders by customer. The timeline for NVIDIA Halos certification is not given. The source material does not disclose whether the 30-plus potential customers in the Customer Acceleration Program have committed to any purchase volumes. The identities of those potential customers are not revealed.
Operators should also note the distinction between the SPAC's expected gross proceeds and the company's actual cash position. The $620 million in expected gross proceeds is subject to the deal closing, which is pending shareholder approval and SEC review. The source material does not specify the timing of the shareholder vote or the expected duration of the SEC review. The deal is anticipated to close in 2026, but no specific month or quarter is given.
The source material also notes that Agility's valuation in the SPAC deal represents a step up from its private market pricing. That premium is based on the company's claim that its robot works for paying customers. For buyers, this means that the public market will be scrutinising Agility's commercial metrics — order conversion rates, deployment success, and repeat business — more closely than private investors may have done. The source material does not provide any of those metrics beyond the 65,000 operational hours and the $300 million in pre-orders.
For European operators specifically, the source material does not identify any European deployment customers. The named customers — Toyota, GXO, Schaeffler, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, and Mercado Libre — include Schaeffler, a German-headquartered company, and GXO, which has significant European operations. However, the source material does not specify where those deployments are located. It would be inaccurate to claim that Digit is operating in Europe based solely on the source material, as no European deployment sites are named.
The competitive context is also worth noting. Unitree's 5,500 units shipped in 2025, as cited in the source material, dwarfs any public figure for Agility's installed base. The source material does not state how many Digit units have been delivered to customers, only that the robot has logged 65,000 operational hours. That distinction matters: a small number of units running many hours is a different commercial proposition from a large number of units with lower utilisation. The source material does not provide unit shipment figures for Agility.
The SPAC structure itself carries implications. SPAC mergers typically involve redemption rights for public shareholders, which can reduce the actual cash available to the company at closing. The source material states that the deal is expected to deliver more than $620 million in gross proceeds, but it does not address the possibility of shareholder redemptions reducing that figure. The source material also does not disclose the terms of any PIPE (private investment in public equity) financing that may be part of the transaction.
For buyers evaluating Digit v5, the source material indicates that the model's commercial launch is scheduled for 2026, pending NVIDIA Halos certification. That certification process is described as determining "how quickly cooperative safety operation can be formally approved at enterprise customer sites." The source material does not explain what cooperative safety operation entails, nor does it specify the certification criteria. Operators should treat the 2026 launch date as conditional, not guaranteed.
The source material also notes that Agility's pipeline of more than 30 potential customers represents "the next layer of contracted orders that would need to begin converting to define what Agility's public-market story looks like." That phrasing suggests that the $300 million in pre-orders is not yet sufficient to establish a recurring revenue base, and that the company will need to convert additional pipeline opportunities to sustain its public-market valuation.
Finally, operators should be aware that the humanoid sector is still in early stages. The source material describes Agility's move as an attempt to "take humanoid robots public before the category has fully proven itself." That characterisation, from the source material, is a fair summary of the risk profile. The public market will now have the opportunity to price that risk, and European buyers will have a new transparency benchmark against which to evaluate humanoid suppliers.
Sources
Agility Robotics plans to go public via SPAC in a $2.5B deal
Published by Vigla Media OÜ (Estonia).