Gecko Robotics Secures $125 Million Funding, Achieves Unicorn Status with AI-Powered Infrastructure Inspection

Gecko Robotics raises $125 million in deal valuing critical infrastructure startup over $1 billion

Jake Loosararian, co-founder and CEO of Gecko Robotics.Source: Gecko Robotics Gecko Robotics announced on Thursday that it raised $125 million in a Series D funding round, raising the AI and robotics company's valuation to $1.25 billion. The new round of funding means the Pittsburgh-based company has reached unicorn status, roughly twelve years after it was founded by Jake Loosararian. The company's previous round of funding, a $173 million Series C in December 2023, valued it at $633 million. To date, the company has raised $347 million from investors including USIT, XN, Founders Fund and Y Combinator. Its latest round was led by new investor Cox Enterprises. Gecko Robotics, the two-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company, ranked No. 30 on the 2025 CNBC Disruptor 50 list. It uses a variety of robots that can climb, fly and swim around critical infrastructure, gaining valuable insights and data on the structures that is then parsed via Gecko's AI-powered operating platform, Cantilever. That information is then used by organizations to optimize, maintain and monitor the infrastructure.

Gecko Robotics raises $125M to inspect and monitor critical infrastructure - SiliconANGLE

The company builds advanced AI-driven robotics systems used for modernizing and maintaining critical infrastructure sectors including defense, energy and manufacturing. They can climb, swim and fly to swarm over vital infrastructure, collecting a large amount of data. The infrastructure they can address includes built structures and United States Navy warships, power plants and public infrastructure. The news comes shortly after Gecko announced a $100 million partnership deal with NAES Corp., America's largest independent power operator with around 65 gigawatts under management. The company also collaborated with L3Harris Technologies Inc. to create a new extended reality solution for aircraft maintenance, helping technicians detect flaws in surfaces on U.S. military assets using 10,000 high-definition images and expanded its work with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., where the company's robots assist with inspecting gas facilities. "Gecko was built out of my college dorm room, to what it is today -- the company ensuring the safety of public infrastructure, the optimization of energy and manufacturing facilities, and the modernization of allied militaries to deter global conflict," said Jake Loosararian, co-founder and chief executive of Gecko Robotics. Gecko built an operating system called Cantilever that provides a decision-making structure that can help predict pipeline explosions, modernize C-130 aircraft or use AI to recommend how to operate a power plant at 3-5% greater efficiency based on data gathered from robots. "Developing robots to diagnose built environments ensures our data and AI-powered software can transform and modernize physical infrastructure around the world," added Loosararian. Gecko's robots provide a scale of work and support where it might be hazardous for humans to operate, which assists not just with gathering quality data, but making maintenance safer. "While much of the tech industry is focused on consumer AI applications, Gecko Robotics is using AI to address an important, underappreciated challenge -- the building and maintenance of critical infrastructure," said Trae Stephens, partner at Founders Fund.