What is 1X Technologies?

What is 1X Technologies?

1X Technologies is a Norwegian-American humanoid robotics and embodied AI company building NEO, the world's first consumer-ready bipedal humanoid robot designed for everyday home life, priced at $20,000 (or $499/month) with first U.S. deliveries underway in 2026. The company's first-year production run of 10,000 units sold out within five days of pre-orders opening in October 2025.

Founded in May 2014 in Moss, Norway as Halodi Robotics by CEO Bernt Øivind Børnich and co-founders Phuong Nguyen (former CTO), Jørgen Sundell, and Pål Løken, the company spent nearly a decade developing a proprietary lightweight electric actuator platform — including the Revo1 motor, a gearless tendon-driven system — before pivoting from industrial logistics to consumer humanoids in 2022. Its first product, EVE (a wheeled humanoid), landed a 140-unit commercial contract with ADT Security Services, the largest humanoid robot order in the industry to that date, generating approximately 70 million Norwegian kroner (~$7M) annually at a lease rate of 500,000 NOK per unit per year and accumulating real-world embodied-learning data at scale.

NEO Gamma is the consumer flagship: 30 kg (66 lbs), 165 cm tall, operating at 22 dB (quieter than a refrigerator), capable of lifting 68 kg, and powered by Redwood AI — a proprietary 160M-parameter vision-language transformer enabling autonomous manipulation and locomotion without cloud inference. NEO launched to early-access buyers at 60–70% autonomy, with human teleoperators stepping in via VR for tasks the robot cannot yet handle independently; the company frames this as a data flywheel, where in-home teleoperations and autonomous episodes continuously train the next generation of AI models.

1X raised $136.5M across a Series A2 (March 2023, $23.5M, led by OpenAI Startup Fund at a $210M post-money valuation) and Series B (January 2024, $100M, led by EQT Ventures at an $820M post-money valuation). In September 2025 the company disclosed plans to raise up to $1B at a targeted valuation of $10B or more — a 12x step from Series B. By April 2026 the Hayward, California NEO Factory was open and ramping toward 10,000 units per year; a San Carlos facility is under construction targeting 100,000 units annually by end of 2027. Latka estimated 2025 revenue at $222.5M, though this figure is unaudited and the company does not publicly disclose financials. Headcount reached approximately 1,049 as of April 2026, up from 663 in September 2025, reflecting the pace of the production and commercial ramp.

Sources:1X NEO Home Robot — 1X official1X Business Breakdown — Contrary Research1X Opens NEO Factory in Hayward, CA — GlobeNewswire

What does 1X Technologies offer?

1X's portfolio spans two humanoid robot platforms, a proprietary on-device AI stack, an open-source world modeling research program, and manufacturing operations serving both consumer and enterprise customers.

Sources:1X NEO Home Robot — 1X official1X NEO Factory — 1X official1X World Model Lab — 1X official

How does 1X Technologies make money?

1X is building a vertically integrated humanoid robotics business with two revenue streams: direct hardware sales and a monthly subscription, targeting both consumers at $20,000 per unit and enterprise fleets through multiyear deployment agreements.

For consumers, NEO is available at $20,000 upfront (requiring a $200 refundable deposit to secure 2026 delivery priority) or $499/month on a subscription with a six-month minimum commitment. First U.S. deliveries are underway in 2026; international rollout is planned for 2027. The initial 10,000-unit production run sold out within five days of pre-orders opening in October 2025, providing strong early demand validation at the $20K price point. At launch, buyers accept that a portion of tasks will be handled by remote human teleoperators — a deliberate design choice that generates the in-home behavioral data needed to increase autonomy over time through OTA model updates.

For enterprises, the strategic partnership with EQT to place up to 10,000 NEO units across EQT's 300+ global portfolio companies in manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and healthcare between 2026 and 2030 represents the first scaled B2B fleet commitment. Enterprise fleet pricing has not been publicly disclosed; the ADT Security EVE precedent was approximately 500,000 NOK (~$47K) per unit per year under a leasing model, suggesting an enterprise fleet-as-a-service structure could command meaningful per-unit annual revenue at scale.

The long-run economics depend on crossing production thresholds where per-unit costs fall dramatically. EVE cost approximately 1 million NOK ($100K) to produce in the early commercial era. CEO Børnich has publicly targeted thousands of units in 2026, 100,000 units per year by end of 2027, and millions of units by 2028 — the trajectory at which hardware economics approach consumer electronics margins. The data flywheel — every deployed robot feeds training data back into Redwood AI and the World Model — compounds the software moat and enables new task capabilities to be delivered via OTA updates, potentially supporting future software subscription tiers layered on top of hardware revenue.

Sources:1X NEO Pre-Order Details — 1X official1X Business Breakdown — Contrary ResearchNorway's 1X Opens California Factory — TFN

Who leads 1X Technologies?

1X is led by founder-CEO Bernt Øivind Børnich and an executive team recruited from Tesla, BMW, SpaceX, Microsoft, Luma AI, and Google Brain, expanded significantly through 2024–2026 to cover finance, operations, and AI research functions.

Sources:Vikram Kothari Joins 1X as VP of Operations — 1X officialWelcoming Mustally Hussain as CFO — 1X official1X Launches World Model Lab — 1X official1X Business Breakdown — Contrary Research

How do you contact 1X Technologies's leadership?

The primary verified email pattern at 1X is [first]@1x.tech (e.g. bernt@1x.tech), used by approximately 50.6% of employees per RocketReach. A secondary pattern [first].[last]@1x.tech is also common. The press contact (press@1x.tech) is published and verified. Executive emails below follow the confirmed first-name pattern and should be treated as format-inferred except for the press address.

• Kendall PenningtonHead of Communications (verified press contact)press@1x.tech
• Bernt Øivind BørnichFounder & CEObernt@1x.tech
• Mustally HussainCFOmustally@1x.tech
• Vikram KothariVP of Operationsvikram@1x.tech
• Jorge MilburnVP of Salesjorge@1x.tech

Sources:1X Email Format — RocketReach1X EQT Press Release — BusinessWireMustally Hussain — ZoomInfo

How much funding has 1X Technologies raised?

1X Technologies has raised at least $136.5M in confirmed equity across two institutional rounds, and in September 2025 disclosed plans to raise up to $1B at a targeted valuation of $10B or more — more than 12x its confirmed $820M Series B post-money valuation.

The company's funding history begins with pre-institutional capital: Norwegian government grants, family investment from the Nistad family, and angel support from Pål Løken fueled the Halodi Robotics era from 2014 through early 2023. ADT Security Services invested in Halodi in 2021, ahead of the 140-unit commercial contract — the earliest disclosed strategic investor.

The first formal institutional round was a $23.5M Series A2 in March 2023, led by the OpenAI Startup Fund, with Tiger Global, Alliance VC, Sandwater, and Skagerak Capital participating. The round closed at a $210M post-money valuation and coincided with the rebrand from Halodi Robotics to 1X Technologies. The OpenAI Startup Fund's lead role directly linked 1X to the world's leading AI research lab at the moment embodied AI was becoming a serious commercial category.

In January 2024, 1X closed a $100M Series B led by EQT Ventures, with Samsung NEXT, the OpenAI Startup Fund (continuing), Tiger Global, and Nistad Group participating, at an $820M post-money valuation. The round funded acceleration of NEO Gamma development, buildout of the Hayward, California NEO Factory, and executive team expansion with Tesla, BMW, and SpaceX hires. EQT's participation was strategic from the outset: the firm converted from Series B investor to anchor commercial customer in December 2025 when EQT committed portfolio companies to up to 10,000 NEO units through 2030.

In September 2025, The Information and multiple outlets reported that 1X had entered discussions to raise up to $1B at a valuation of at least $10B. As of June 2026, the formal close of this Series C has not been confirmed in public filings or company announcements. If completed at the reported terms, total raised would exceed $1.1B and the valuation would represent a 12x increase from the $820M Series B post-money in under two years.

Sources:1X Secures $100M Series B — 1X official1X Targeting $1B at $10B+ Valuation — Humanoids DailySeries B — $820M Valuation — VaderResearch/X

How did 1X Technologies get here?

From a Norwegian robotics startup in May 2014 to a Silicon Valley-headquartered company shipping consumer humanoids to U.S. homes in 2026, 1X's journey spans two product generations, two continents, a series of executive hires from elite hardware companies, and a pivot from industrial security to consumer home life.

Sources:1X Technologies — Wikipedia1X Business Breakdown — Contrary Research1X Opens NEO Factory — GlobeNewswire1X Launches World Model Lab — 1X official

Who are 1X Technologies's competitors?

1X competes against well-funded U.S. startups, Chinese manufacturers, and industrial incumbents — each taking a different route to market in the rapidly expanding humanoid robotics sector that Goldman Sachs projects will reach $38B by 2035.

Sources:1X Business Breakdown — Contrary ResearchTop Humanoid Robot Companies 2026 — EVST