0
Startups & Venture·October 22, 2026·1 min read

Chicago-based Formic, which provides robots-as-a-service automation to manufacturers, raised $50M, including a $40M Series B and $10M in asset-backed financing

Share

Formic raising $50M — with $10M in asset-backed financing — shows RaaS is maturing into an infra-like financing game, not just SaaS with arms. Manufacturers on the fence about automation should expect more “no capex” offers and should scrutinize contract lock-in and uptime guarantees as closely as price.

Startups & Venture

Sources: SoftBank's SB Energy is considering going public in December or possibly waiting until next year as it monitors Anthropic's IPO, expected next month

SB Energy timing its IPO around Anthropic’s debut — while building a massive Ohio data center project for OpenAI — shows how tightly AI demand is now coupled to energy and infra capital markets. If you’re planning large-scale AI deployments, counterparty risk now includes your power provider’s IPO window and balance sheet.