Physical AI perception company Lyte today announced the completion of a $165 million Series C financing led by Maverick Silicon at a company valuation of $1.6 billion.
The company was founded in Silicon Valley by former Apple executive CEO Alexander Shpunt, founder of PrimeSense which was acquired by Apple as well as CTO Dr. Arman Hajati and VP Engineering Dr. Yuval Gerson.
The company aims to develop a chip capable of receiving all the data needed for a robot's operation in one place, allowing it to navigate more easily and see the production line better. These efforts emphasize humanoid robots - human-like robots that perform household tasks - and industrial robots.
Investors include serial chip entrepreneur Avigdor Wilenz, Atreides investment fund, led by Gavin Baker, one of the SpaceX investors, and Fidelity with participation of existing investors, Israel’s Key1 Fund and Ora Global, Excite Labs and Element Labs.
As far as is known, the company does not have offices in Israel, and its Israelis employees all live in the US. The company has 120 employees, mostly in Silicon Valley, who are engaged not only in developing chips, but also in implementing a system based on sophisticated optics and algorithms.
The "visual brain" of robotics
From the recognition of the human face and body at PrimeSense, Lyte hopes to develop the next generation of how humanoid robots perceive the reality around them. "The world of physical AI is advancing very quickly, and what we are seeing is that the dominant approach to learning is moving from imitation learning to simulation learning, which is where we fit in," Shpunt told "Bloomberg."
Lyte’s sensor chips include three types: a camera, an inertial motion sensor, and a sensor that measures distance and speed. The system then collects the position and vision data on a single platform, to serve what the company calls the "visual brain" of the robots. While robots already make significant use of sensors today, the company promises to develop a simple solution, in which sensors and other components are combined in a single infrastructure that can be connected to the robot. In other words, the company promises to develop a "brain" that can be connected and quickly implemented in a series of humanoid and mobile robots.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 2, 2026.
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