Lyte, a physical AI startup building sensing and perception technology for robots, has raised $165 million in Series C funding at a $1.6 billion post-money valuation . Maverick Silicon led the round, which brings Lyte's total funding to $272 million. Fidelity Management And Research Co., which led the Series B, also took part, along with Atreides Management, Key1 Capital, Ora Global (formerly Exor Ventures) and other investors.
Alexander Shpunt, Arman Hajati and Yuval Gerson founded the Sunnyvale, California-based company in 2021. All three are former Apple engineers who worked on advanced sensing and perception technologies. Shpunt also co-founded PrimeSense, whose 3D-sensing technology powered Microsoft Kinect, before Apple acquired it in 2013. The trio's work helped bring 3D perception into the mainstream and later became a foundation for Apple's Face ID.
Lyte is building custom silicon, 4D sensing , RGB, motion awareness and AI software that help robots sense where they are and what is moving around them. Its early customers are mainly in warehousing and manufacturing. The startup operated in stealth until earlier this year, when it announced $107 million in Series A and B funding.
CEO Shpunt said physical AI will create entirely new categories of robots, and every one of them will need to understand the world around it. He said this requires precise, real-time understanding of geometry and motion that machines can trust enough to act on. Lyte was built to become the perception foundation for that future.
Crunchbase data shows global venture funding in physical AI reached $47.4 billion across 521 deals in the first half of 2026. That is almost 4x the $12 billion raised across 470 deals in the second half of 2025, and nearly 80% more than the $26.4 billion raised in the first half of 2025. Andrew Homan, managing partner at Maverick Silicon, joined Lyte's board. He said the breadth of early customer demand makes Lyte poised to become one of the defining technology companies of the robotics era.