Company
Persona AI
Houston-based company building purpose-built industrial humanoid robots for shipyards, manufacturing, and defense.
- HQ
- Houston, TX
- Status
- active
Funding
$27.0M
Models
1
Overview
Houston-based company building purpose-built industrial humanoid robots for shipyards, manufacturing, and defense. Founded by Nic Radford, Persona AI raised 7M in an oversubscribed pre-seed round to develop rugged humanoids for heavy industry applications, addressing the skilled labor crisis in shipbuilding and fabrication.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- None on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
DEPLOY Intelligence
Market intelligence for physical AI
Analyst-grade signals, competitive tracking, and investment context across the global physical AI landscape. Launching 2026.
Key facts
Robot
Industrial humanoid robots
Focus
Shipyards, manufacturing, and defense
HQ
Houston, Texas, United States
Founded
2024
Founder
Nic Radford
Pre-seed funding
7M
Products
Industrial humanoid robots for shipyards, manufacturing, defense
Data & sources
Web sources
1
1 source backing this record.View all →
Models (1)
View all models →Persona AI on the deployment map
Where Persona AI's robots are verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
Relationships
Current leadership (1)
- Nic Radford Founder & CEOreported, not verified
Founders (1)
- Nic Radfordcofounder
Safety record
No incidents on record for Persona AI.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Recent coverage
Persona AI in third-party press
Peer companies
- Unitree Robotics9 models
- AgiBot5 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- UBTech Robotics5 models
- 1X Technologies4 models
- Fourier Intelligence4 models
Financial state
- Reporting basis
- private_reported
- Lifecycle stage
- early
- Counterparty risk class
- elevated
Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Partnerships (1)
- Persona AI x HD Hyundai Shipyards with HD Hyundaideploymentannouncedreported, not operationally verified
Funding rounds (1)
- Seed2026-03-11
$27M(reported)
Sources (1)
- verification source · https://persona.ai/
Common questions
- What is Persona AI?
- Houston-based company building purpose-built industrial humanoid robots for shipyards, manufacturing, and defense. Founded by Nic Radford, Persona AI raised 7M in an oversubscribed pre-seed round to develop rugged humanoids for heavy industry applications, addressing the skilled labor crisis in shipbuilding and fabrication.
- What does Persona AI make?
- Persona AI has 1 robot model on the DEPLOY registry: Persona Industrial Humanoid (Persona AI builds both physical robots and the AI that runs them).
- Who competes with Persona AI?
- On the DEPLOY registry, peer companies to Persona AI building in the same form factors include Unitree Robotics, AgiBot, Boston Dynamics, UBTech Robotics.
- Where is Persona AI headquartered?
- Persona AI is headquartered in Houston, TX.
- How much funding has Persona AI raised?
- Persona AI has raised approximately $27M in disclosed funding on record in the DEPLOY registry.
- Where does Persona AI operate robots?
- Persona AI is a robot manufacturer and does not directly operate deployments on the DEPLOY registry. Its products are deployed by customer operators; see the company page for the verified deployment record.
- Is Persona AI a top robotics company?
- On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, funding, hiring, media, safety, and IP signals, Persona AI ranks in roughly the top 56% of companies tracked by the registry.
- Is Persona AI safe?
- Persona AI has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.
Methodology: Verified · 1 source (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-03
Verification posture
Verified
Low confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-07-03
Sources by quality tier
- 1
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Persona AI.Peer companies
- Unitree Robotics9 models
- AgiBot5 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- UBTech Robotics5 models
- 1X Technologies4 models
- Fourier Intelligence4 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Persona AI from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Persona AI raises 7M for shipyard humanoid robots
Persona AI raised 7M. Building purpose-built humanoid robots for shipyards. Signed agreement with HD Hyundai for shipyard deployment.
Nic Radford and Persona AI: Redefining Industrial Robotics
Profile of Persona AI founder Nic Radford and the company's 7M pre-seed round for industrial humanoid robots.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/persona-ai.md
- RSS feed: /companies/persona-ai/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/6978f03c-ee54-4a4c-83fe-7919991c737a
- Revision history: /companies/persona-ai/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Unitree Robotics9 models
- AgiBot5 models
- Boston Dynamics5 models
- UBTech Robotics5 models
- 1X Technologies4 models
- Fourier Intelligence4 models
Reality vs attention
Persona AI draws attention at the 10th percentile but verifies reality at the insufficient-data level among humanoids.
6-month trend
Analysis
Active fundraising activity with a recent closing. Limited public visibility and press coverage relative to peers.
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Jul 14, 2026