Japanese humanoid artificial intelligence (AI) robot startup Atom (ATOM) has raised 3 billion yen (about 28 billion won) in a seed funding round. It plans to develop humanoid robots for manufacturing and logistics sites, while also building a World Model that learns real physical environments.

On May 27 (local time), Japanese media outlet ITmedia reported that Atom plans to use the funds to hire AI engineers and strengthen its development infrastructure. Independent venture capital firm ANRI, Beyond Next Ventures and JAFCO Group participated as lead investors.

ALPHA, government-backed investor JIC Venture Growth Investments, Sumisho Venture Partners, Blue Lab under Mizuho Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and SMBC Venture Capital also provided funding. With major financial-affiliated investors and government-backed money participating, some assessments say efforts to foster Japan's humanoid industry are moving into full swing.

Atom said it will not use the funds only to build a simple robot prototype. CEO Shunsuke Aoki (아오키 슌스케) said the fundraising will serve as a turning point for developing a humanoid AI robot body and a World Model that can simulate realistic physical environments. He also said the company plans to pursue supply-chain construction and the design and building of data collection centers in parallel.

Atom's business direction targets manufacturing and logistics sites. The company aims to mass-produce humanoid products that can support or replace human work by combining physical AI and robotics. Its strategy is to build not only robot hardware but also a combined system spanning data, simulation and production.

The company in particular highlighted the World Model as one of the core technologies in the humanoid industry. Robots need to repeatedly learn and validate various physical environments and variables in virtual space in order to move reliably at actual work sites. Atom plans to build its own data collection centers to directly secure robot training data.

It also drew attention for including supply-chain construction in its fundraising plans from an early stage. Humanoid robots require not only AI software but also procurement of hardware components such as actuators, sensors and batteries, as well as production systems, which are seen as key variables for commercialization. Atom chose a direction of securing its production base directly from the start.

Atom is a startup founded in November 2025. Despite its relatively short history, it has raised large seed funding from major financial-affiliated investors and government-backed money, emerging as a rising company in Japan's humanoid market. The company aims to develop and mass-produce robots that support or replace human work in manufacturing and logistics sites, and has also put forward a vision of "raising Japan's GDP by 1 percent."

Industry watchers view the investment as an example showing Japan's humanoid industry is moving beyond a research-focused stage to a phase of applying it to industrial sites and building production systems. How quickly Atom links robot development with the world model, data infrastructure and supply-chain construction and moves them into execution is expected to be a key variable in the business outcome.