Mecka AI, a startup that collects and analyzes human motion data to train humanoid and other robots, is nearing a new financing round led by Sequoia Capital that would value the company at roughly $500 million, according to two people familiar with the deal.
This potential round follows a financing announced just three months earlier, when Mecka disclosed a $60 million raise led by Framework Ventures with participation from Menlo Ventures, SV Angel, and Kindred Ventures. The exact size of the new round has not been reported and the terms are not final; they could still change.
Mecka AI did not respond to requests for comment, and Sequoia declined to comment.
Founders and business model
Mecka AI was co-founded in 2024 by four entrepreneurs: Canadians Josh Gao and Mogen Cheng, who previously built a restaurant fintech startup; Jason Chong, who joined Coinbase after his crypto exchange was acquired; and Duy Nguyen, the only non-Canadian founder, who focuses on operations.
None of the co-founders come from a robotics background, but they identified a shortage of physical-world data as a key bottleneck for general-purpose robots, including humanoids. The company’s name references "mecha," the fictional human-piloted giant robot. Mecka aims to provide the kind of human-data infrastructure to robotics that companies like Scale AI, Mercor, and Surge have provided for large language models.
Mecka pays people to record themselves performing everyday tasks — for example, making coffee or fixing cars — using body sensors and smartphones. These "egocentric" real-world recordings are used by robotics companies and AI labs, often together with teleoperation and other data-collection methods, to train models.
Financial outlook and market context
When announcing its prior funding round in early June, Josh Gao told Fortune that Mecka was projecting an annual run rate of $100 million by the end of 2026. Mecka has not publicly disclosed its customer list.
Other startups collecting real-world data for robot training include XDOF, which has been reported to be nearing a round at a $1.2 billion valuation, and larger human-data platforms expanding beyond LLMs such as Scale AI and Micro1.
The terms and the final size of Mecka’s potential Sequoia-led round remain subject to change, so further details will depend on any official announcements from the company or its investors.
