COMMERCIAL
Phoenix
Sanctuary AI
PrivateCanadian AI robotics company founded in 2018 in Vancouver by Geordie Rose (co founder of D Wave quantum computing) and Suzanne Gildert. Builds the Phoenix humanoid robot powered by its Carbon AI control system. Has raised over 140 million dollars in total funding.
Founded 2018$175M raised
Humanoid Robots
About Sanctuary AI
Sanctuary AI is a Canadian robotics company developing general-purpose humanoid robots for commercial and industrial work. Founded in 2018 in Vancouver by Geordie Rose, former CEO of D-Wave, the company combines proprietary humanoid hardware with Carbon, an AI control system designed to enable robots to learn, reason, and perform a wide variety of human tasks. Its flagship Phoenix humanoid, now in its seventh generation, is designed to operate in workplaces ranging from manufacturing and logistics to retail and other service industries. Carbon allows Phoenix to acquire new skills rapidly through a combination of teleoperation, machine learning, and autonomous execution, enabling the robot to adapt to unfamiliar tasks without requiring extensive reprogramming.
Technical Profile
Platform maturity, autonomy stack, and flagship-system specifications in one view.
Technology Snapshot
A concise view of platform maturity and deployment footprint.
Hardware GenerationGen 7
Flagship PlatformPhoenix
Deployments15
AI Stack
Capabilities and model layers highlighted by the company.
01PyTorch
02ROS2
Phoenix Specs
Published operating specifications for the lead system.
Battery Life4 hours
Payload Capacity25 kg
Speed5 km/h
Degrees of Freedom20
Certifications
Standards and certifications currently associated with the platform.
01CE
Investors
Latest Updates
May 26, 2026Funding RoundInvestment
Zeon invests in Sanctuary AI and partners on dexterous robotics materialsZeon Corporation, through its venture capital arm Zeon Ventures, invested in and partnered with Sanctuary AI to support specialized materials for dexterous robotics as Sanctuary moves toward commercial deployments.
Recent News
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Sanctuary AI and the Robotic Touch
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Valuation History
Track Sanctuary AI's valuation over time.
Funding Rounds
2021-06-01Series A$50M
2023-04-01Series B$200M
2024-05-01Series C$350M
2025-01-01Current$500M
Sanctuary AI History
- January 2018
Sanctuary AI is founded in Vancouver
Sanctuary AI was founded in January 2018 in Vancouver by Geordie Rose, Suzanne Gildert, Olivia Norton, and Ajay Agrawal. Rose had previously co-founded D-Wave, the world's first commercial quantum computing company. The team's thesis was that the world needed robots with human-like general intelligence to address growing labor shortages.
VancouverGeneral intelligence - March 2022 - July 2024
Sanctuary raises institutional and government backing
In March 2022, Sanctuary raised $58.5 million in Series A with participation from Magna International, Bell, and Verizon Ventures. A C$30 million contribution from the Government of Canada followed. By July 2024, total funding exceeded $140 million.
Series ACanadaMagna - May 2023
Phoenix and Carbon become the public platform
The breakthrough came in May 2023 with the unveiling of Phoenix, the first complete bipedal humanoid designed entirely in-house. Alongside Phoenix, the company introduced Carbon, an AI control system that mimics subsystems of the human brain.
PhoenixCarbon - October 2024 - 2025
Seventh-generation Phoenix reaches first commercial deployment
In late 2024, Sanctuary unveiled its seventh-generation Phoenix, featuring increased uptime, improved perception, wider range of motion, and task-learning time reduced to under 24 hours. In early 2025, Sanctuary completed its first commercial deployment.
Gen 7Commercial deployment
Sanctuary AI is a Canadian robotics company headquartered in Vancouver, building general-purpose humanoid robots powered by Carbon, a proprietary AI control system designed to emulate human cognition. Founded in 2018 by Geordie Rose (former CEO of D-Wave), the company develops the Phoenix humanoid robot, now in its seventh generation. Carbon enables Phoenix to learn new tasks autonomously in under 24 hours.