The verified answer
As of Sep 2026, DEPLOY verifies Yondu: 1 model, $500,000 raised.
Overview
Yondu is a Los Angeles-based robotics company building drop-in, general-purpose robots for 3PL warehouse fulfillment automation. Founded at MIT by Michael Chen and Tahmid Jamal as part of Y Combinator W24, Yondu deploys humanoid robots for bin-picking, packing, and end-to-end e-commerce order fulfillment, integrating directly with existing warehouse management systems (WMS). The company is the first to fully automate brownfield bin-picking at a price point mid-sized warehouses can afford.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- None on file
- Active incidents
- None on file
Valuation of record
Company-claimedPriced roundSeed post-money
Key facts
Product
Investorssee investors →
Integration
Total fundingsee investors →
Head of Research
YC Batch
YC Partner
Team size
Pricing
Deployment partner
Hero image candidate
Models (1)
View all models →Partnerships
Every company Yondu has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most-frequent partners
- 1Shipbots1× joint
Most recent
- Yondu x Shipbots2025-01-01with Shipbotsoperating
Yondu on the deployment map
View the global mapYondu has no verified deployments on the DEPLOY registry yet. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
No verified deployments for Yondu on the DEPLOY record yet. Track Yondu to know the moment the first one is verified.
Relationships
Current leadership (2)
- Michael Chen CEO & Co-founderSEC-verified
- Tahmid Jamal CTO & Co-founderSEC-verified
Founders (2)
- Michael Chencofounder
previously at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Tahmid Jamalcofounder
previously at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Safety record
No incidents on record for Yondu.
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
Yondu in third-party press
Peer companies
- Roborock20 models
- Ecovacs Robotics19 models
- SharkNinja14 models
- iRobot9 models
- Mammotion7 models
- DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics6 models
Financial state
- Total funding
- $500,000
- Employees
- 12
- Reporting basis
- private_reported
- Lifecycle stage
- early
- Counterparty risk class
- moderate
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 total · 1 operating
Every company Yondu has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most recent
- Yondu x Shipbots2025-01-01with Shipbotsoperating
Most-frequent partners
- 1Shipbots1× joint
Funding rounds (1)
- Seed2024-07-01
$500,000(reported) · $2M post
Investors: Y Combinator, Link Ventures, SBXi, Prod Ventures
Timeline
Every recorded move in Yondu’s history, most recent first: funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, supply-chain starts, key hires, and press.
PartnershipYondu x Shipbots
2025-01-01Yondu has a close partnership with Shipbots, one of the largest and most tech-forward 3PLs on the West Coast. Yondu deploys its bin-picking robots in Shipbots' Gardena, CA fulfillment warehouse to test, iterate, and roll out warehouse automation. Shipbots is a 2025 Inc. 5000 honoree.
Funding roundSeed funding round
2024-07-01Seed raising $500000
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Record createdAug 12, 2026
Added to the verified registry
Common questions
What is Yondu?
What does Yondu make?
Is Yondu publicly traded?
Who competes with Yondu?
Who is the CEO of Yondu?
How can I invest in Yondu?
Where is Yondu headquartered?
How much funding has Yondu raised?
Who owns Yondu?
Where does Yondu operate robots?
Is Yondu a top robotics company?
When was Yondu founded?
Is Yondu safe?
Methodology: Claimed (not independently verified) · no sources on file · last reviewed 2026-08-21
Verification posture
Claimed (not independently verified)
Low confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-08-21
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Yondu.Peer companies
- Roborock20 models
- Ecovacs Robotics19 models
- SharkNinja14 models
- iRobot9 models
- Mammotion7 models
- DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics6 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Yondu from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Introducing the Yondu Work Force: End to end fulfillment automation, live in production
LinkedIn post announcing end-to-end fulfillment automation with humanoid picking and stationary arm packing, powered by Yondu.
Introducing the Yondu Work Force: End to end fulfillment automation
CEO Michael Chen announces Yondu Work Force, live in production with humanoid picking and stationary arm packing.
Yondu AI: Enabling the Robot Workforce of the Future — YC Launch
Y Combinator launch post for Yondu AI, detailing their platform-to-application approach for putting robots in warehouses with teleoperation and robot behavior models.
Warehouse Trends: AI, Robots, and Data in October
Industry trends analysis featuring Michael Chen, co-founder of Yondu, on warehouse automation for SMB 3PLs.
AI-infused robotics startup Yondu by MIT dropout Michael Chen
Profile of Yondu AI and founder Michael Chen, MIT dropout building AI-infused robotics for warehouse automation at scale.
Michael Chen on Robotics and AI at Yondu — SupplyChaney Podcast
SupplyChaney podcast interview with Michael Chen, CEO and co-founder of Yondu AI, sharing his journey from building robots as a kid to leading a general-purpose robotics company.
Ep #3 With Yondu AI Co-Founder Michael Chen
18VC Podcast interview with Michael Chen, co-founder and CEO of Yondu AI (YC W24).
Yondu: Robots to Automate Fulfillment | Y Combinator
Y Combinator W24 company profile for Yondu, founded by MIT alumni Michael Chen and Tahmid Jamal, building drop-in robots for 3PL warehouse fulfillment automation.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/yondu.md
- RSS feed: /companies/yondu/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/9091062f-cb32-4072-a586-60e6becd491e
- Revision history: /companies/yondu/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Roborock20 models
- Ecovacs Robotics19 models
- SharkNinja14 models
- iRobot9 models
- Mammotion7 models
- DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics6 models
Video
See Yondu AI's latest teleoperated demo for automotive suppliers. We're decanting messy chains from totes and placing them onto jigs, showcasing new application
Discover Yondu AI's excitement around cobots – robots designed for safe human collaboration. Perfect for repetitive tasks in shared workspaces with moderate pay
In this demo, a stationary robotic arm is integrated with the METIS autobagger machine to perform fully automated product packing. The arm picks items and feeds
Most general-purpose robots are stuck in the lab, stationary, or automating dummy tasks that provide little to no value. Yondu is the first company to deploy h
Yondu AI's humanoid robots and stationary picking arm handle end to end fulfillment, live in a working warehouse.
What does it take to put humanoid robots to work in real warehouses today — not in a lab demo, but in messy, live customer facilities? In this episode of the 1
Conference Whispers: Manifest 2026 Join the Whisper Club today for weekly drops of Whisper Reports that contain “insider predictions you can’t Google” and dire
Conference Whispers: Manifest 2026 Join the Whisper Club today for weekly drops of Whisper Reports that contain “insider predictions you can’t Google” and dire
Heat Index
Category contender77/100
A composite of competitive footprint, funding, press velocity, active partnerships, and supply-chain edges. Different from the Intelligence score below (which is per-form-factor productization). Non-robotics companies cap at 25.
Reality vs attention
Yondu draws attention at the 45th percentile but verifies reality at the insufficient-data level among service robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Funding runway warrants monitoring: last known round 27 months ago.
Signal flags
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: Sep 28, 2026