Machenta

Machenta is a London robotics startup founded by Edward Johns, a professor of robot learning at Imperial College London, and his PhD student Vitalis Vosylius, building on six years of research in Johns' lab. Its AI model is trained entirely in simulation and, the company says, lets a robot perform a new physical task such as packing or assembly after seeing it done once. In October 2026 it came out of stealth with a $40 million seed round co-led by Creandum and Union Square Ventures, the largest seed round for a UK robotics company.