Robot maker Agility starts trading today - but its steep losses are raising red flags

By William Gavin

Agility is going public via a SPAC merger that one executive says will give it a 'first-mover advantage'

Agility Robotics said its Digit 5 robot can work cooperatively with people, a breakthrough it said will help it commercially scale.

Agility Robotics is set to become the first public "pure-play" humanoid robotics company as it seeks to capitalize on a major opportunity - but with a financial profile that gives one researcher pause.

The company, set to trade on Nasdaq under the "AGLT" ticker on Thursday, was founded a little more than a decade ago as a spinoff from Oregon State University's robotics lab. Last week, it said it would raise $465 million through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, along with equity funding and an investment led by Foxconn (TW:2354).

"We wanted that first-mover advantage," Agility Chief Business Officer Daniel Diez told MarketWatch about the decision to pursue a SPAC combination rather than undergo the traditional initial public offering process. "It also allows us to set the bar" for how to judge humanoid companies in an industry known for "hyperbole," Diez added.

In a traditional IPO, companies file extensive paperwork before going public and host a roadshow with potential investors. A SPAC merger is seen as a way to go public quicker without the same level of scrutiny that comes with a traditional IPO.

The business opportunity surrounding humanoids is expected to be immense, with some experts estimating a multitrillion-dollar market by 2050. The industry has said its robots could supplement, and eventually replace, workers in everything from logistics to healthcare.

As a result, interest in the humanoid opportunity, and robotics more broadly, has been growing, with billions of dollars invested in companies working on such robots. Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh said Monday that he expects 1.8 million humanoids will be deployed annually by 2035.

Elon Musk last month said his Tesla (TSLA) would likely start delivering its Optimus humanoid to customers by the end of 2027. Diez said that Agility hopes that a legion of private companies will join it on the public market. That could include companies that have notched multibillion-dollar valuations in the private market, such as Apptronik and Figure AI.

Agility, which has a $2.5 billion pre-money valuation, says it's largely ahead of the pack. It has more than $300 million of multiyear contracted orders, subject to certain milestones and features, for the next version of Digit, its teal bipedal robot. The company touts its work on safety.

Diez told MarketWatch that Agility's emphasis on safety and its ability to deploy autonomous humanoids sets it apart from competitors. The company expects to provide early access to Digit 5 in the first half of 2027 and ramp up availability by the end of that year.

Agility sells Digit to customers using a subscription model it calls robot-as-a-service. Agility said it has engaged with more than 30 customers either in a pilot program - in which customers pay $500,000 to participate - and through active commercial discussions, according to a filing.

The company has built relationships with several businesses, including GXO Logistics (GXO) and Amazon.com (AMZN), which is an investor and early customer. GXO said last month it would expand its partnership with Agility, expressing confidence in the humanoid technology's "ability to create measurable value for our customers and a better working environment for our teams."

However, Agility's financials have raised some eyebrows. Scott Walter, who leads research at the closed-end fund RoboStrategy (BOT), told MarketWatch he sees "red flags on top of red flags on top of red flags." RoboStrategy, which has invested in Figure and other humanoid firms, isn't interested in Agility, he said.

Walter pointed to the decision to pursue a SPAC, which he said can indicate that a company isn't able to raise sufficient funds in the private market. Agility said in a statement that it had "every option available to us," including a new private round, but landed on a SPAC because it was the "fastest, most capital-efficient" route.

Walter also said Agility's financial health appears "terrible," noting its unprofitability.

In the first half of 2026, Agility disclosed $174,000 in total net sales, a 72% decline from a year before, which it attributed to one-time robot sales in the first half of 2025. As of June 30, it had $544,832 in performance obligations it expected to recognize as revenue within a 12-month period.

At the same time, Agility's cost of goods sold rose roughly 110% to nearly $3.9 million in the first half of 2026. Agility also recorded an operational loss of $362.7 million during that time, compared with $72.6 million a year earlier. A significant amount of Agility's operational losses so far this year were tied to higher stock-based compensation expenses, the company said.

As of June 30, Agility had $14.7 million in cash and cash equivalents, as well as $7.1 million in restricted cash.

"Agility is an early-stage company with a history of net losses, and it expects to incur significant expenses and continuing losses for the foreseeable future," the company wrote in a regulatory filing, noting that "substantially all" of its resources have been poured into developing Digit and a manufacturing facility in its hometown of Salem, Ore.

-William Gavin

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11-05-26 0743ET