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Avatar Robotics Raises $6.5 Million Seed to Build the Unlimited Industrial Workforce

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SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Avatar Robotics, a startup building the unlimited workforce for industrial labor, today announced it has raised a $6.5 million Seed round led by AlleyCorp, alongside a pre-seed led by defy.vc, and participation from Headline, Henry Ford III, Refashiond, Paul Vogel, Jack Huffard, and Samuel Udotong.

Avatar Robotics addresses one of the largest structural constraints facing the U.S. economy: persistent labor shortages across warehousing, logistics, and manufacturing. As companies reshore operations and demand faster fulfillment, many facilities struggle to hire and retain enough workers for physically demanding or repetitive jobs.

Avatar unleashes a new category of industrial infrastructure that combines robotics, remote human operators, and AI-driven autonomy. Its humanoid robots can perform high-value warehouse and manufacturing workflows such as picking, packing, kitting, sorting, cycle counting, and material movement — delivering flexible labor capacity 24/7.

Since launching in December 2025, Avatar Robotics has packed, sorted, and helped ship more than 900,000 products, including for a leading global beauty retailer, via robots deployed across live customer environments. The company has also begun a post-pilot expansion with a multi-billion-dollar warehouse operator to support sorting and picking workflows, with additional deployments underway.

“The United States has a massive labor shortage, and the warehouses and factories that power daily life are struggling to hire enough workers,” said Colin Webb, Founder and CEO of Avatar Robotics. “For the first time, affordable robotics, high-speed connectivity, and AI-driven autonomy make it possible to create a new kind of workforce. Avatar Robotics gives businesses access to scalable industrial labor, while enabling workers to operate fleets of robots remotely from safer and more comfortable environments. Over time, this can dramatically lower the cost of goods and expand economic opportunity to people anywhere in the world.”

Unlike traditional automation systems that require rigid workflows and expensive upfront integration, Avatar is plug-n-play, using remote operators to complete tasks reliably from day one. While operating, Avatar Robots continuously learn from the data they generate, enabling robotic foundation models to bring intelligent automation to every task.

The result is a new kind of robotics infrastructure for the physical economy. Customers get labor capacity immediately. Avatar Robotics produces the data needed to improve autonomy, where eventually one warehouse operator will command entire fleets of robots. In the future, Avatar will power an ever-growing suite of autonomous workflows for today’s highly manual, complex tasks.

 “Avatar Robotics has built strong partnerships with their initial customers — and is already delivering meaningful value in real workflows — through their human-in-the-loop system, which is performing at a level competitive with skilled human operators,” said Brannon Jones, Principal at AlleyCorp. “In doing so, Avatar Robotics has also generated large datasets of robot control data, which the industry currently lacks and will help to inform foundation models and enable more scalable labor supply.”

“Colin’s vision for Avatar instantly captivated me,” said Amy Yin, Partner, defy.vc. “The path to full robotic autonomy will require both better hardware and massive amounts of real-world data. Avatar’s approach is incredibly clever: use remote human operators to bridge the gap today while improving autonomy with every task completed. I believe that model can help Avatar build one of the largest humanoid robot fleets in the world.”

The new capital will be used to expand deployments, accelerate autonomy software development, scale robot fleets, and grow the company’s engineering and operations teams.

Avatar Robotics’ team includes engineers and operators from Cruise, Apple, Tesla, Intuitive Surgical, and Unity, with research backgrounds from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The founder and CEO, Colin Webb, graduated from MIT (delivering the commencement address), and has developed various autonomous solutions ranging from AI powered drones and self-driving cars, to founding a recently acquired AI startup with cofounder Nenye Anagbogu, who has teamed up with Webb once again at Avatar.

Avatar Robotics envisions scaling to millions of robots operating across warehouses, factories, mines, farms, and future infrastructure projects — allowing businesses of any size to access industrial-grade labor on demand, and enabling workers globally to control fleet-scale physical systems virtually.

To get in touch with the Avatar Robotics team, reach out at hello@avatarrobotics.com.

About Avatar Robotics

Avatar Robotics is building the unlimited workforce for industrial labor. Avatar combines humanoid robots, a global fleet of robot operators, and AI autonomy to help businesses scale warehouse, logistics, and manufacturing operations with affordable, flexible, always-available labor. Businesses with tedious, hard-to-automate tasks including kitting, sorting, picking, packing, rework and assembly tasks can tap into Avatar’s overnight scalable labor, capable of 24/7 work. Avatar robots are currently fulfilling thousands of big brand retail products daily.

Avatar Robotics is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Learn more at www.avatarrobotics.com

About AlleyCorp

AlleyCorp is a New York-based venture capital firm that incubates and invests in transformative companies across healthcare, AI, enterprise software, consumer tech, deep tech, and more.

As one of the most active early-stage investors in New York, AlleyCorp focuses on investing at the incubation, pre–seed, seed, and Series A stages. Founded by serial entrepreneur Kevin Ryan, AlleyCorp’s past incubations have included MongoDB (NASDAQ: MDB), Business Insider, Zola, Gilt Groupe, Radical AI, and Transcend Therapeutics. Learn more at alleycorp.com.

About defy.vc

defy.vc is a Silicon Valley–based early-stage venture capital firm, currently investing out of defy III. With $700M under management across its funds, defy takes an artisanal approach to company building—backing founders with conviction and providing hands-on support from inception through exit. Our team blends decades of venture experience with entrepreneurial and operating expertise, partnering with the boldest founders shaping the future. Connect with defy at https://defy.vc and @defyvc.

Media Contact
Kelsey Cullen, KCPR
kelsey@kcpr.com
650.438.1063

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SOURCE Avatar Robotics

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Visual Shop and Bluestreak Join Forces with Steelhead Technologies

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Together, the three industry leaders bring decades of metal finishing and heat treating expertise to one platform built for margin and growth.

CALUMET, Mich., Aug. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Steelhead Technologies announced today the acquisitions of Visual Shop and Bluestreak, two longstanding providers of job shop management and QMS software. Customers of all three companies now have access to next-generation technology to help them get ahead: an all-in-one system built on a digital production floor, with automation and AI built in to power margin and growth.

“ThermTech is excited to announce our partnership with Steelhead Technologies as we implement their AI-powered heat treating platform.” – Mary Springer, Executive Vice President, ThermTech.

For years, Steelhead, Visual Shop, and Bluestreak have earned the trust of metal finishers and heat treaters across North America by delivering systems designed with the specific complexities job shops face in mind. Now these systems are joining forces. Customers are getting the best of each: the digital production floor, the industry knowledge, and the people who understand their business.

“Metal finishing job shops have been under decades of competitive pressure from offshoring, workforce challenges, and volatility in costs. With demographic changes and AI completely changing the operational landscape, the challenges remain as tall as ever. At the same time, top government officials and contractors are urgently bringing back work by reshoring and scaling production. Job shops must leverage technology to rapidly increase capacity and capability while not adding head count to solve every challenge. Steelhead is excited to be their technology partner providing purpose-built technology tailored for metal finishing, supercharged with AI and white-glove service from a knowledgeable team with decades of experience.”

— Jeff Halonen, CEO/Co-Founder, Steelhead Technologies

Continued Investment in Metal Finishing

Steelhead is accelerating its investment in metal finishing to position job shops for the next generation of manufacturing. The team is continuing to invest heavily in the industry, including its investment in FedRAMP to meet the security and documentation standards CMMC compliance requires, and dedicating engineering, support, and product resources specifically to fine-tune workflows. Customers will benefit from access to the people who know metal finishing and heat treating best, drawing on the long-standing experience at Visual Shop and Bluestreak.

“Visual Shop customers have always loved our vast array of features and our friendly and responsive support team that knows their business. To stay competitive in the long term, we would need to build a new product on a modern platform. Steelhead has a great product and shares our philosophy of providing outstanding customer service. As one company with Steelhead and Bluestreak, it’s a big win for customers because we can work together to bring the absolute best software experience to the metal finishing and heat treating industries.”

— Kevin Pluedeman, President of Cornerstone Systems (Visual Shop)

“For over 20 years, Bluestreak has powered heat treating and metal finishing job shops with software built to help them scale without compromising on quality. Looking ahead, we believe partnering with Steelhead positions us to deliver on that promise at an entirely new scale. By joining forces with Steelhead, we are bringing the institutional knowledge and specialized features of Bluestreak together with Steelhead’s modern infrastructure. Our focus remains entirely on supporting customers seamlessly today while building the ultimate, next-generation platform for the next 20 years.”

— Todd Wenzel, President and Founder of Bluestreak

“ThermTech is excited to announce our partnership with Steelhead Technologies as we implement their AI-powered heat treating platform. For decades, ThermTech has grown by investing in the things that matter most to our customers: our people, our equipment, our processes, and the quality systems that stand behind every part we treat. Over the last 23 years, we’ve leveraged and co-developed the Bluestreak QMS, and that investment in capability has been central to how we serve our customers. Moving to Steelhead is the next chapter of that same philosophy, a platform that unites MES, QMS, ERP, financials, and customer service in a single system. Our engineering team will work closely with Steelhead to shape highly specialized heat treating capabilities so we can continue raising the bar on quality, responsiveness, and the service our customers count on.”

— Mary Springer, Executive Vice President, ThermTech

Customer Perspective

At Exactatherm, a heat treater in Mississauga, ON, taking their shop floor digital has simplified training, tightened quality control, and enabled faster turnaround times.

“With Steelhead, if we need a job pulled for review in a Nadcap audit, we can look it up and have all the data right there. We don’t have to train someone with a background in metallurgy or heat treat to enter a job anymore; anyone can do it. That efficiency shows up everywhere: our lead times used to run a couple of weeks, now we’re down to ten days, and parts we used to store for ten to twelve days now move through in five to seven.”

— Vraj Shah, Quality Manager, Exactatherm

At Eastern Plating, a plating shop rebuilding and growing after a major flood, taking the shop floor digital has given the team real-time visibility into every stage of production.

“Before Steelhead we couldn’t see where our parts were at any given time. It was received, a traveler was put on it, and we didn’t know where it was again until it shipped. Now we know where our parts are any time once they’re in Steelhead, and probably 95% of the phone calls have been eliminated. As we’ve continued rebuilding from the flood, we’ve been able to increase our revenue by about 25 to 30%, and we were able to schedule all of that additional revenue with our existing head count.”

— Wayne Wheeler, Eastern Plating

Media Contact

Kelsey Halonen, Steelhead Technologies, 1 7346576859, kelsey@gosteelhead.com, gosteelhead.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prweb.com/releases/visual-shop-and-bluestreak-join-forces-with-steelhead-technologies-302843382.html

SOURCE Steelhead Technologies

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Jack Henry & Associates to Provide Webcast of Fourth Quarter and Full-Year Fiscal 2026 Earnings Call

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MONETT, Mo., Aug. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.® (Nasdaq: JKHY) announced today that it will host a live webcast of its fourth quarter and full-year fiscal 2026 earnings conference call on August 19, 2026. The press release announcing fourth quarter and year-end fiscal 2026 earnings will be issued after market close on August 18, 2026.

The live webcast, which will begin at 7:45 a.m. Central (8:45 a.m. Eastern), can be accessed on the Jack Henry Web site at jackhenry.com. Please log on 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the call. The earnings call US dial-in number is (833) 630-0605, while international participants dial +1 412-317-1830. Participants will request to join the Jack Henry & Associates call. An archived replay of the quarterly earnings call will be available on jackhenry.com approximately one hour after the live call, or you can dial (855) 669-9658 and use replay access code “8041677” to listen to the replay.

In addition, the company will release quarterly deconversion revenue results prior to the release of the quarterly earnings results. The press release announcing deconversion revenue will be issued after market close on Tuesday, August 11, 2026.

About Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.®
Jack Henry™ (Nasdaq: JKHY) is a well-rounded financial technology company that strengthens connections between financial institutions and the people and businesses they serve. We are an S&P 500 company that prioritizes openness, collaboration, and user centricity – offering banks and credit unions a vibrant ecosystem of internally developed modern capabilities as well as the ability to integrate with leading fintechs. For 50 years, Jack Henry has provided technology solutions to enable clients to innovate faster, strategically differentiate, and successfully compete while serving the evolving needs of their accountholders. We empower approximately 7,400 clients with people-inspired innovation, personal service, and insight-driven solutions that help reduce the barriers to financial health. Additional information is available at jackhenry.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jack-henry–associates-to-provide-webcast-of-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-fiscal-2026-earnings-call-302843915.html

SOURCE Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.

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RTB House Highlights How E-Commerce Brands Can Boost Sales with Retargeting Tools

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NEW YORK, Aug. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As the digital marketplace becomes increasingly competitive, maximizing conversion rates remains a top priority for global brands. The integration of advanced deep-learning algorithms into daily advertising strategies is fundamentally changing how businesses interact with potential buyers, enabling them to scale revenue and build lasting customer relationships. For modern e-commerce platforms, the challenge is no longer just acquiring traffic but converting that traffic efficiently without alienating the consumer. Traditional digital marketing methods are proving insufficient in a landscape where consumer attention is fragmented and privacy regulations are tightening. To bridge this gap, leading digital retailers are turning to next-generation advertising technologies that leverage massive computing power to identify complex paths to purchase, fundamentally altering the economics of online customer acquisition.

The Evolution of Personalized Marketing

Traditional advertising models are rapidly giving way to hyper-personalized, AI-driven campaigns. In the past, retargeting often meant showing users repetitive ads for products they had already purchased or ignored—a strategy that frequently resulted in ad fatigue and diminished brand perception. Early retargeting relied heavily on simplistic, rule-based engines that could only react to obvious behavioral triggers. Today, by analyzing vast amounts of consumer data—including browsing habits, dwell time, and previous interactions—modern e-businesses can predict purchasing intent with unprecedented accuracy.

This evolution allows digital marketers to deliver highly relevant content at the exact moment a consumer is ready to buy, minimizing ad fatigue and maximizing engagement. The shift represents a move away from the outdated metric of maximizing sheer click volume. Instead, the focus has pivoted toward “Quality Traffic,” where campaigns are optimized for tag-validated, meaningful on-site engagement. By combining hyper-relevant ad placements with sophisticated LLM-powered audiences, brands can ensure their advertising budgets are spent on consumers demonstrating genuine interest, rather than accidental traffic. Furthermore, the modern era of personalized marketing leverages deep learning to capture what older systems miss. By identifying non-obvious converters and understanding nuanced purchasing behaviors, AI-driven platforms can recommend products that a consumer has never even viewed, creating additive revenue streams that previously went untapped.

Boosting Sales with RTB House Retargeting Tools and Services

To directly address the need to boost sales and accelerate conversion cycles, RTB House provides a robust ecosystem of marketing services powered entirely by proprietary deep-learning algorithms. The company’s comprehensive suite of services includes highly targeted dynamic display campaigns that adapt in real-time to user preferences, personalized video ads that capture attention across various devices, and full-funnel in-app advertising solutions tailored for mobile-first consumers. By seamlessly integrating these advanced retargeting tools, e-commerce platforms can efficiently recapture abandoned carts, increase long-term user retention, and drive measurable revenue growth across all digital touchpoints.

The technological edge provided by these deep-learning-powered campaigns translates into concrete financial performance. Industry data reveals that advanced retargeting deployments can deliver up to a 57% increase in scale at a set return on ad spend (ROAS). Even more significantly, intelligent product recommendation engines have demonstrated that up to 61% of purchased products driven by these systems were not previously viewed by the consumer, proving the AI’s ability to actively generate new demand rather than simply fulfill existing intent.

The suite of services also includes on-brand shoppable creative, which displays personalized product recommendations based entirely on first-party signals. Delivered across the entire purchase journey, this visually engaging approach accelerates performance while strengthening overarching brand equity. Trusted by major global brands across various sectors—including retail giants like Steve Madden, travel platforms like Secret Escapes, and automotive marketplaces like Autotrader—the deep-learning infrastructure has proven its capacity to handle vast amounts of industry data. By identifying hidden patterns within this data, the technology convinces high-intent prospects to take definitive action, fueling a continuous, virtuous cycle of conversion, new customer acquisition, and sustained demand generation.

Future-Proofing Sales Strategies

Digital retailers must adapt to these technological advancements to remain competitive. Implementing state-of-the-art marketing frameworks ensures that brands remain agile, especially as the industry shifts toward a privacy-first, cookie-limited environment. The industry’s broader shift toward a privacy-first environment has forced a critical reevaluation of how advertising data is sourced and deployed.

In response, modern retargeting solutions emphasize the activation of first-party signals. By identifying the behaviors of a brand’s most valuable customers, deep learning algorithms can find new, similar audiences without relying on outdated tracking methods. Crucially, this approach operates without the pooling or selling of a brand’s proprietary data, allowing companies to build an exclusive and secure competitive edge. By prioritizing deep-learning retargeting, companies not only see an immediate lift in their return on ad spend (ROAS) but also secure long-term growth and sustainable customer loyalty in an unpredictable digital economy. As e-commerce continues to evolve, the brands that integrate privacy-compliant, AI-driven technologies into their core marketing stacks will be the ones best positioned to dominate their respective markets for years to come.

Media Contact:

Company: RTB House
Email: digital.global@rtbhouse.com
Website: https://www.rtbhouse.com/

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