Agility Robotics will merge with a special purpose acquisition company in a transaction valued at $2.5 billion, with the deal expected to generate $620 million in gross proceeds for the humanoid robotics manufacturer. The announcement positions Agility as the first major humanoid robotics firm to pursue a SPAC route to public markets, ahead of competitors including Figure AI and 1X Technologies that have raised substantial private capital but remain privately held. Agility declined to name the SPAC partner or specify closing timing, though sources familiar with the matter indicated the transaction could finalize in the third quarter of this year.
The company emerged from Oregon State University's robotics lab in 2015, where co-founders Damion Shelton and Jonathan Hurst developed bipedal locomotion algorithms that became the foundation for Digit, Agility's warehouse-focused humanoid. Digit stands 5 feet 9 inches tall, walks on two legs, and uses its torso-mounted arms to manipulate totes and packages in logistics environments. Amazon deployed the first commercial Digit units in late 2023 at a fulfillment center outside Seattle, a pilot that expanded to three additional sites by early 2025. GXO Logistics and Spanx have since signed deployment agreements, though neither company has disclosed unit counts. Agility opened a 70,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Salem in late 2024 with stated annual capacity exceeding 10,000 units, though the company has not reported current production rates or shipment volumes.
The $2.5 billion valuation trails Figure AI, which raised $675 million in a Series B round earlier this year at a reported $3.2 billion valuation, and Boston Dynamics, acquired by Hyundai Motor Group in 2021 for $1.1 billion before its Atlas humanoid reached commercial deployment. Agility's valuation does, however, exceed the $700 million valuation Apptronik commanded in its Series A last year and the estimated $500 million to $600 million range for Sanctuary AI based on its most recent funding round. The proceeds will fund continued buildout of the Salem production line, expansion of the field engineering team supporting commercial deployments, and further development of Agility's software stack, which handles motion planning, object recognition, and fleet coordination. The company employs approximately 250 people, up from roughly 150 at the start of 2025, with concentrations in mechanical engineering, perception software, and customer deployment roles.
SPAC transactions have fallen sharply from their 2020-2021 peak, with just 23 SPAC mergers closing in 2025 compared to more than 600 in 2021, according to SPAC Research data. Redemption rates—the percentage of SPAC shareholders who withdraw their capital before a merger closes—have averaged above 90% in recent quarters, leaving many companies with far less cash than initially projected. Agility's $620 million gross proceeds figure does not account for potential redemptions, transaction fees, or PIPE investors who may participate alongside the SPAC. The robotics sector has seen mixed public market performance: Symbotic, the warehouse automation firm that went public via SPAC in 2022, trades near $40 per share after peaking above $60, while several autonomous vehicle SPACs including Embark and TuSimple ultimately delisted after failing to meet revenue projections. Public market investors will scrutinize Agility's revenue trajectory, gross margins on Digit hardware, and the timeline to profitability—metrics the company has not publicly disclosed.
What to Watch: Track whether Agility discloses current Digit shipment volumes and average selling prices in SEC filings ahead of the merger vote, which will clarify revenue run rate and unit economics. Monitor redemption rates once the SPAC partner is named; a rate above 80% would significantly reduce net proceeds and potentially force Agility to seek additional PIPE financing. Watch for announcements from Amazon regarding expansion beyond the current four pilot sites, which would signal confidence in Digit's operational readiness at scale. Finally, observe whether Figure AI or 1X Technologies accelerate their own public market plans in response, as both have indicated openness to listings within the next 18 months.
