Mecka AI Nears $500 Million Valuation in Sequoia-Backed Funding Round

Mecka AI, a company that gathers and processes human motion data to train humanoid robots and other robotic systems, is close to securing a new financing round led by Sequoia Capital at an estimated valuation of $500 million, according to sources familiar with the transaction.

The recent round follows a $60 million raise three months earlier, which was led by Framework Ventures and also included Menlo Ventures, SV Angel, and Kindred Ventures.

TechCrunch has not disclosed the exact size of the new round, and the deal terms remain subject to change.

Mecka AI declined to comment, and Sequoia Capital also refused to comment.

Mecka AI was founded in 2024 by four entrepreneurs — Canadians Josh Gao and Mogen Cheng, who previously built a restaurant fintech startup, and Jason Chong, who joined Coinbase after his crypto exchange was acquired. Duy Nguyen, the sole non‑Canadian team member, oversees operations.

None of the founders have prior robotics experience, yet they identified a shortage of real‑world physical data as the main obstacle limiting the development of general‑purpose and humanoid robots.

Drawing on the term “mecha,” which refers to a fictional giant robot piloted by humans, Mecka aims to replicate the data‑centric model of companies such as Scale AI, Mercor, and Surge for the robotics sector. The startup compensates individuals to record themselves performing routine activities — such as making coffee or repairing a car — using body sensors and smartphones.

In early June, Gao told Fortune that Mecka projected an annual revenue run rate of $100 million by the end of 2026.

Although Mecka has not revealed its customer list, numerous robotics firms and AI research labs rely on the egocentric, real‑world data it captures — complementing other physical data sources such as teleoperation — to develop their models.

Other ventures pursuing similar real‑world data collection for robot training include XDOF, which TechCrunch reported was close to a new round at a $1.2 billion valuation, as well as human‑data platforms like Scale AI and Micro1 that are extending beyond large‑language‑model applications.

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