OpenMind raises $20M to connect intelligent machines
OpenMind will use its funding to expand its engineering team and market its platform for robot coordination. Source: OpenMind
The stated goal of OpenMind is “to connect all thinking machines” with its OM1 operating system and FABRIC protocol. The San Francisco-based company today said it has closed $20 million in funding to scale up its engineering team and collaborate with additional global partners.
“Today’s robots are trapped in single-vendor ecosystems that limit collaboration and can’t adapt to real-world complexity,” said Jan Liphardt, CEO of OpenMind. A Stanford University professor, Liphardt has spent his career at the intersection of artificial intelligence, biology, and decentralized systems. “OpenMind is the connective tissue the robotics industry has been missing,” he added.
While many companies are racing to build humanoid robots, OpenMind asserted that it is focusing on the missing layer — intelligence infrastructure. The company said the funding brings it “closer to making robotic intelligence open, interoperable, and as accessible as the internet.”
OpenMind supports robot coordination
The OM1 platform enables robots of all forms to perceive, adapt, and act in human environments, claimed OpenMind. The hardware-agnostic operating system is designed to support the integration of intelligent machines into everyday life, it said.
The FABRIC decentralized coordination layer gives intelligent machines a way to verify identity, share context, and collaborate securely across environments, said OpenMind. It said it wants to build the equivalent of Android for robots.
“As more robots come online, FABRIC provides the trust layer that lets them work together — no matter who built them or where they operate,” the company said. “Robots using FABRIC can understand where they are, who’s nearby, and what to do next.”
Together, OM1 and FABRIC create an open, secure coordination layer — allowing any robot to install intelligence, verify trust, and act within a shared global network.
“Together, they lay the foundation for machines that can operate across any environment while maintaining security and coordination at scale,” said the company. “By building open systems, shared intelligence, and decentralized coordination, their goal is to connect all thinking machines.”
Investors want to bridge AI and the material world
Pantera Capital led OpenMind’s funding round. The company also received backing from Ribbit, Coinbase Ventures, HSG, DCG, Pebblebed, Topology, Primitive Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, Anagram, and angel investors.
“OpenMind’s approach feels obvious in hindsight,” said Nihal Maunder, partner at Pantera Capital. “If we want intelligent machines operating in open environments, we need an open intelligence network. OpenMind is doing for robotics what Linux and Ethereum did for software.”
Pamela Vagata, founding partner at Pebblebed and a founding member of OpenAI, added: “OpenMind’s architecture is exactly what’s needed to scale safe, adaptable robotics. OpenMind combines deep technical rigor with a clear vision of what society actually needs.”
“Robotics is going to be the leading technology that bridges AI and the material world, unlocking trillions in market value,” said Casey Caruso, managing partner at Topology and former investor at Paradigm. “OpenMind is pioneering the layer underpinning this unlock.”
OpenMind said the funding will help it bring OM1 and FABRIC into the world for everything from smart manufacturing and humanoid robots to autonomous transport.
“If AI is the brain and robotics is the body, coordination is the nervous system,” Liphardt said. “Without it, there’s no intelligence – just motion. We’re building the system that lets machines reason, act and evolve together.”
Editor’s note: Learn about humanoid robotics development and physical AI at RoboBusiness 2025, which will be on Oct. 15 and 16 in Santa Clara, Calif.
