Khosla-backed robotics startup Genesis AI has gone full stack, demo shows
Source: TechCrunch
Genesis AI, a startup that raised a $105 million seed round to build foundational AI for robotics, has unveiled its first model, GENE‑26.5, and it comes with surprise hands. In a demo video, the company showcased various advanced tasks performed by a set of robotic hands it has designed in‑house.
“The model has always been the goal, because a better model means better intelligence,” Genesis co‑founder and CEO Zhou Xian told TechCrunch.
“So we decided to go full stack,” he added, explaining why the team needed control over the hardware.
The Competitive Landscape
Other well‑funded companies operate at the intersection of AI and robotics, such as:
Zhou acknowledged that “there’s probably 50 or 100 robotic hand companies out there,” but he and co‑founder Théophile Gervet hope that building their own will give them the upper hand.
A Human‑Sized Hand
The key difference is that Genesis’s hand has the same size and shape as a human hand—instead of the two‑finger grippers many robotics companies use—reducing the gap with real‑world conditions.
“That lets us collect a lot more data than was previously possible, to train a model that can do many more tasks,” said Gervet, a former research scientist at Mistral AI who is now Genesis’s president.
Demo Highlights
The video below shows a range of physical‑manipulation tasks. Gervet’s personal favorite is cooking, because it proves the robot can complete a long series of difficult steps (cracking an egg, slicing a tomato, etc.). Other showcased tasks include:
- Preparing smoothies
- Playing the piano
- Solving a Rubik’s Cube – a classic robotics gimmick
Data Collection: The Sensor‑Loaded Glove
Behind the scenes, Genesis has also developed a sensor‑loaded glove that acts as a real‑life double of its robotic hand, collecting data that can be readily used for training.
“If we could design a robotic hand that tries to mimic a human hand as much as possible, we can instantly unlock huge amounts of human data without having to worry about the ‘embodiment gap’ in robotics research,” Zhou explained.
Other groups have tried their hand at this problem; Genesis’s novelty lies in combining the glove with its model. The current version, GENE‑26.5 for May 2026, is expected to iterate rapidly thanks to a proprietary simulation environment.
“The real bottleneck for the iteration speed of the model is evaluation. So this helps us speed up model training a lot,” Zhou said.
Why the Glove Matters
- Lightweight & Easy to Wear – comparable to security gloves already used in many industries.
- Cost‑Effective – relatively cheap to produce.
“We’re in talks with a lot of customers right now, and a lot of the value of a glove would be that, for the first time, you can wear the data‑collection device while doing your daily job—whether you’re a lab technician for pharma or in manufacturing,” Gervet noted.
The glove would be complemented by egocentric video data (people filming themselves performing tasks).
Open questions
- Will workers be comfortable wearing devices that could train robots to replace them?
- Will they receive extra compensation for the data they generate?
Gervet admitted, “We haven’t nailed the details yet.” The founders also recognize that some partners may choose not to share data, so Genesis may pay third‑party partners to collect it. Their model is already trained on “massive amounts of human‑based internet videos,” according to a press release that did not mention compensation.
Funding & Growth
In July 2025, just a few months after its creation, Genesis emerged from stealth with a $105 million seed round co‑led by Eclipse and Khosla Ventures, plus backers such as Bpifrance, HSG, Eric Schmidt, Xavier Niel, Daniela Rus, and Vladlen Koltun.
“One big reason we decided to be in Europe is there is a huge talent density across the whole continent,” Gervet said.
- Headcount: ~60 people
- Geography: 40‑45 % in Europe, 50‑55 % in the U.S.
- Offices: Paris, California, and a newly opened London location
- Hiring: Ongoing in all three locations
Roadmap
Beyond the hands, the company plans to reveal its first general‑purpose robot soon—a full‑body system rather than just manipulators. Zhou reiterated the long‑term vision:
“Our goal is to build the most capable robotic system.”
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