Sanctuary AI develops human-like intelligence for general-purpose robots intended to help organizations work more safely, efficiently, and sustainably. The company was founded in 2018 by Olivia Norton, who serves as Chief Technology and Product Officer. Sanctuary intends to use the new funds to accelerate progress toward bringing AI into the physical world. Its customers and investors span industries across Canada, the US, and other countries. Existing investors and partners include Accenture, Bell, Export Development Canada, Evok Innovations, Magna, SE Health, Verizon Ventures, and Workday Ventures. The company has received over $140M in total investment to date, including a $30M Strategic Innovation Fund contribution from the Government of Canada in November 2022. Sanctuary AI develops AI-powered humanoid general-purpose robots designed to perform a wide variety of work tasks safely and effectively. Its flagship robot, Phoenix, is driven by the Carbon AI control system that mimics subsystems found in the human brain—memory, sight, sound and touch—and translates natural language into real‑world actions. Phoenix was recognized by TIME as one of the Best Inventions of 2023 and has performed more than 100 tasks at a Mark’s retail store in Langley, British Columbia, demonstrating fine manipulation and human-level hand dexterity. The company targets industries facing labor shortages, including post and parcel, manufacturing, retail and logistics warehousing, where its robots can complement and collaborate with human workers. Sanctuary embeds Explainable AI in Phoenix to surface reasoning, task and motion plans that can be defined and audited. Founded in 2018 and based in Vancouver, Canada, Sanctuary’s team includes founders and employees with prior experience at D-Wave, Kindred, Amazon, Microsoft and Softbank Robotics. Sanctuary Cognitive Systems develops human-like intelligence for general-purpose robots using AI, cognition, and robotics technologies. Founded in 2018 by Geordie Rose, Suzanne Gildert, Olivia Norton, and Ajay Agrawal and based in Vancouver, BC, the company aims to create robots that assist humans with difficult or dangerous tasks. Its stated goals include improving workplace safety and efficiency, creating new jobs, and reducing the impact of labour shortages. Sanctuary also envisions its technology enabling exploration and settlement in outer space. The company plans to use recent funding to expand operations and advance its development efforts. Financially, it closed a US$58.5M Series A in 2022 to support those plans.

Total raised

$59M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series A

Latest activity

Mar 2022