Enigma secures $70 million seed funding to redefine human-robot interfaces

Enigma, a robotics research lab emerging from stealth, has secured a $70 million seed funding round led by Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital, with participation from Conviction Partners. The less-than-one-year-old startup is taking a distinct approach to the artificial intelligence sector by focusing on the mechanics of human-robot interaction rather than solely on model capabilities. The company aims to develop interfaces that allow users to control robots with the same ease as adjusting a car’s volume knob.

The funding will support a global online experiment allowing users to interact with over 100 proprietary AI robots housed in hangars in Israel and California. These robots, which Enigma claims to have built from the ground up, are capable of performing complex tasks such as drawing with paintbrushes, engaging in sword fights, and conducting simple chemistry experiments. The initiative seeks to gather data on how humans naturally wish to communicate with machines, testing methods ranging from text and audio commands to visual demonstrations and drag-and-drop interactions.

Enigma was founded by Jonathan Jacobi and Gal Niv, who met as teenagers competing in hacking competitions and later served together in Israel’s elite Unit 8200, where they conducted cybersecurity research. Jacobi, previously noted as Microsoft’s youngest-ever employee, and Niv applied their technical background to robotics, a field in which they lacked direct experience. They assembled a team comprising alumni from top AI labs, math Olympiad winners, and individuals who left PhD programs to join the venture.

Shardul Shah, a partner at Index Ventures, highlighted the strategic advantage of the founders’ outsider status. He noted that while many robotics insiders focus on teleoperation and dexterity, Jacobi and Niv are approaching the problem from the perspective of the ultimate user experience. This methodology is designed to address the current friction in human-robot collaboration, where complex instructions often deter practical application in domestic or industrial settings.

While specific business use cases remain undisclosed, Enigma is already partnering with companies across the healthcare, logistics, and entertainment industries. The startup intends to use insights from its public experiment to refine both its control interfaces and its underlying foundational AI models, potentially establishing a new standard for embodied intelligence.