FORT Robotics Is Going Public to Build a Safety Net for the Robot Age
The Philadelphia startup wants every autonomous machine, from warehouse bots to self-driving vans, to share one safety system. A merger deal values it at over $500 million.
Key points
- FORT Robotics is merging with a blank-cheque acquisition company to list on Nasdaq at a valuation of $556.6 million.
- The combined company, FORT Robotics Holdings Inc., expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.
- FORT's 2025 revenue grew 62% year-over-year while operating expenses grew only 19%.
- The company has deployed more than 19,500 safety units globally and counts Google DeepMind, Zoox and DoorDash among its 600 customers.
- The transaction is expected to bring roughly $201 million in gross proceeds, with Tiger Global and Mark Cuban among the investors.
Somewhere on a warehouse floor right now, a robot is moving towards a person. Whether it stops in time depends on safety software most people have never heard of. FORT Robotics wants to be the company that makes sure it always stops.
The Philadelphia startup announced this week that it is merging with Newbury Street II Acquisition Corp., a SPAC (a special-purpose acquisition company, which is a listed shell firm created specifically to take a private company public without a traditional stock market debut). The deal values the combined business at $556.6 million.
What does FORT Robotics actually make?
FORT builds what it calls a Trust Layer: a set of hardware controllers, cloud software and safety certifications that sit between a robot's brain and its motors, acting as a last line of defence before anything goes wrong.
The idea is that machines from different manufacturers, a forklift from one brand and a delivery robot from another, can share the same safety rules in the same building. FORT's platform holds 25 patents and is certified to Safety Integrity Level 3 under IEC 61508, an international electrical safety standard. In plain terms, that is one of the tightest safety ratings a control system can carry.
Founder Samuel Reeves started the company in 2018, building on earlier work clearing landmines with robots. He told The Robot Report: "How we trust physical AI will be one of the defining questions of our time."
The product line has expanded quickly. In January 2026, FORT launched Wireless E-Stop Pro, a wearable safety button that any worker can carry to freeze nearby robots instantly. In May, it bought Mapless AI, a company specialising in teleoperation, meaning remote human control of robots, to add a human-in-the-loop layer. In June, it announced a collaboration with NVIDIA as part of NVIDIA's Halos for Robotics safety ecosystem.
How healthy is the business?
The numbers are strong. FORT reported 62% revenue growth in 2025, and its 2025 revenue per employee reached $276,000.
| Metric | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth | 62% year-over-year | 2025 |
| Growth among customers spending $100k+ annually | 91% | 2025 |
| Gross margin | 66% | 2025 |
| Units deployed globally | 19,500+ | To date |
| Expected gross proceeds from merger | ~$201 million | On closing |
No single customer accounts for more than 9% of 2025 revenue, which reduces the risk that losing one client would hurt the business badly.
What does going public mean for the robot industry?
More money means faster development. FORT plans to spend the proceeds on next-generation safety software, cybersecurity tools and international expansion.
For workers sharing floors with autonomous machines, a better-funded safety layer should mean fewer near-misses and more consistent behaviour across different robot brands. Head of product Amod Damle put it plainly: "If safety annoys workers, they won't use it." The goal is safety that runs invisibly in the background.
The merger still needs approval from shareholders of both companies and from regulators. If everything goes to plan, FORT Robotics Holdings Inc. will be trading on Nasdaq before the end of 2026.
