The problem
Mid-market manufacturers can't fill end-of-line jobs and can't afford the upfront cost and risk of automation
What they do
Robots-as-a-service: installs, runs and maintains factory robots for one monthly fee
Traction Robots in 100+ facilities, 97% renewal; fleet hours ~400K (Sep 2025) to 750K+ (Oct 2026)
Hiring trend
- Open roles
- 37
- Ops roles
- 3
- Headcount
- ~95-126
Headcount ~74 → ~93 Q1 2025 to Q1 2026 (Revelio, +26%), ~126 on LinkedIn; postings +90% in 2026
Hiring in
- Chicago
- Bolingbrook
- San Francisco
Latest news
Oct 2026
Raised $50M led by Mercato Partners ($40M Series B plus debt) to expand into general-purpose robots ↗Glassdoor
3.6 ★ 26 reviews ↗Funding
- Last round
- $50M (incl. ~$10M debt)
- Stage
- Series B
- Date
- Oct 2026
Led by Mercato Partners
- Hiring+237 open roles on the live job board (30+ roles = +2)
- Funding recency0Latest money ($50M (incl. ~$10M debt), Oct 2026) isn't a new primary round, so it doesn't count
- Traction—Robots in 100+ facilities, 97% renewal; fleet hours ~400K (Sep 2025) to 750K+ (Oct 2026)
- Red flags—None on file
- Total4.25Stored score → Race (4.25–4.74)
Hiring and funding from the stored fields add up to +2. The stored score of 4.25 includes a judgment call the fields don't capture (often a boundary month or a round we don't count), so traction and red-flag points can't be split out exactly.
Distance (Half) is a separate read on how long the lead can last. It doesn't change the score.
Distance
Half · edge: hard to leave + learns from use
Largest independent US robot-as-a-service fleet with 97% renewals, but capital-heavy and copyable by integrator leasing.
Sources: Business Wire: Formic raises $50M; 100+ facilities, 97% renew (Oct 2026) ↗ · Teardown: Formic deep dive, last standalone US RaaS platform of scale (Sep 2026) ↗
Last checked Oct 25, 2026