In a powerful demonstration of sustained investor confidence in artificial intelligence, two distinct AI startups have secured major funding rounds, highlighting the sector's rapid evolution and commercial potential. The developments underscore a strategic push toward more sophisticated, adaptable, and developer-centric AI solutions.
VoiceRun, a San Francisco-based startup, announced the successful closure of a $5.5 million seed funding round led by Flybridge Capital. The company, co-founded by Nicholas Leonard and Derek Caneja, is building what it calls a "voice agent factory" platform. The core innovation is a code-first paradigm for creating AI voice agents, targeting enterprise developers who need scalable, production-grade solutions beyond the limitations of no-code tools.
CEO Nicholas Leonard explained the rationale: "Developers and enterprises desperately needed a viable alternative... the most natural and powerful interface for building voice agents should be code itself." The platform aims to bridge the gap between simple no-code builders and complex custom development, offering features like one-click deployment, integrated A/B testing, and tools for AI coding agents. The funding will accelerate platform development, team expansion, and customer acquisition.
In a far larger deal, robotics software pioneer Skild AI achieved a staggering $14 billion valuation following a $1.4 billion Series C funding round co-led by SoftBank's Vision Fund and Nvidia, with participation from Macquarie Group and 1789 Capital. Reported by Bloomberg on January 14, 2026, this round more than triples the company's valuation from just seven months prior, bringing its total capital raised to over $2 billion.
Skild AI is developing foundation models for robotics—general-purpose AI "brains" that can be adapted to various robots and tasks without exhaustive retraining. CEO Deepak Pathak highlighted the technology's goal: enabling robots to learn from human observation and generalize that knowledge. This approach addresses the high cost and time traditionally associated with robot training.
The massive valuation reflects investor belief in the fusion of advanced AI with physical systems, particularly as companies like Tesla and Figure advance humanoid robot hardware. Nvidia's involvement signals the computational scale required, while SoftBank's participation marks robotics AI as a mainstream industrial priority. The capital will fuel aggressive R&D, hiring, and potential acquisitions in a competitive landscape that includes rivals like 1X Technologies and Field AI.
