Axis Robotics raises $12 million seed round led by Hack VC

Axis Robotics has raised a $12 million seed round led by Hack VC, with Pi Network Ventures joining as a lead investor in a deal that underscores growing interest in robotics data infrastructure and blockchain-based incentive systems. The San Francisco-based startup is building a human-in-the-loop data engine for Physical AI, aiming to solve a core constraint in robotics: the shortage of large, high-quality datasets for training machines to operate in the physical world. Founded in 2025, Axis says its platform combines procedural task generation, browser-based teleoperation, a mobile egocentric data capture app and an automated processing pipeline to generate training data without requiring contributors to own robotics hardware. Accepted trajectories receive unique Data IDs recorded on Base, Coinbase’s layer-2 network, and contributors are rewarded through what the company calls a Train-to-Earn model. Axis said it launched its main product on Base in March 2026 after two testing rounds. It said one early campaign collected more than 10,000 valid trajectories in three days and trained a policy that ran on a physical Franka arm for a flower-watering task, while a later beta drew more than 20,000 users who produced roughly 180,000 trajectories across 47 task types in 10 days. The company says it now has more than 100,000 active contributors, over 200,000 verified trajectories, more than 90 task categories and over 2,000 digital assets. The fresh capital will be used to expand procedural generation capabilities and grow the contributor network into new regions. Axis plans to release Sim Dataset V2 in September and a DAgger post-training dataset in November, while also pursuing paid pilots and a run-rate above $1 million in annual recurring revenue. The investment is the second major robotics and AI-related bet by Pi Network’s $100 million venture arm, following its participation in OpenMind’s $20 million round in 2025 and a strategic investment in CiDi Games.