This Sanctuary AI company profile covers the company's valuation, revenue, funding rounds, investors and history. Sanctuary AI works in artificial intelligence, with a focus on humanoid robotics. It was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Every figure links to a public source, and anything the company hasn't disclosed is marked as such.
Revenue
| Metric | Value | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lifetime funding | Over $140 million (company-reported) | July 2024 | Sanctuary AI |
| Leadership change | Board removed co-founder and CEO Geordie Rose; more than 30 employees laid off (reported) | November 2024 | The Logic |
Funding history
| Date | Round | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2024 | Strategic financing | Not disclosed (brought lifetime funding to over $140M) | Not disclosed | BDC Capital's Thrive Venture Fund and InBC (British Columbia's investment fund) | Sanctuary AI |
| Nov 2022 | Government contribution | $30M (Strategic Innovation Fund) | n/a | Government of Canada | The Robot Report |
| Mar 2022 | Series A | US$58.5M | Not disclosed | Participants included Magna, Bell and Verizon Ventures | Design Engineering |
Sanctuary AI timeline
Key dates from the sources on this page, oldest first. Metric snapshots are listed after the funding events.
- 2018 — Sanctuary AI is founded in Vancouver by Geordie Rose and Suzanne Gildert.
- Mar 2022 — Series A: US$58.5M. Investors: Participants included Magna, Bell and Verizon Ventures.
- Nov 2022 — Government contribution: $30M (Strategic Innovation Fund). Investors: Government of Canada.
- Jul 2024 — Strategic financing: Not disclosed (brought lifetime funding to over $140M). Investors: BDC Capital's Thrive Venture Fund and InBC (British Columbia's investment fund).
- July 2024 — Lifetime funding: Over $140 million (company-reported).
- November 2024 — Leadership change: Board removed co-founder and CEO Geordie Rose; more than 30 employees laid off (reported).
Investors
Overview
Sanctuary AI is a Vancouver company building general-purpose humanoid robots: machines shaped roughly like people, with hands designed to handle objects, controlled by AI software intended to let them carry out a wide range of physical tasks. Its long-term goal is robots that can do useful work in places designed for humans, such as warehouses, stores and factories, without those places needing to be redesigned around the robot.
Sanctuary was founded in 2018 by Geordie Rose and Suzanne Gildert, who had previously worked together at D-Wave, the Canadian quantum computing company Rose co-founded. That background gave the company early credibility with investors interested in very ambitious technology.
Why humanoid robots are attracting attention
For decades, industrial robots have been specialised machines bolted to factory floors, each programmed for one task. Humanoid robots aim at something different: general-purpose machines that could, in principle, be moved between tasks as easily as a human worker. Advances in AI, particularly models that learn from data rather than being explicitly programmed, have revived interest in the idea. Labour shortages in sectors such as logistics, retail and manufacturing add commercial urgency.
The technical challenges are enormous. Human hands are extraordinarily capable, and getting a robot to grasp, manipulate and adapt to unfamiliar objects reliably is one of the hardest problems in robotics. Sanctuary has put particular emphasis on dexterous hands and on what it calls robotic intelligence, the software that decides what the robot should do.
Funding history
March 2022, Series A: US$58.5 million, with participants including Magna, the Canadian auto parts manufacturer, Bell, and Verizon Ventures. Industrial and telecom investors are typical in robotics: they bring potential deployment sites and connectivity expertise as well as capital.
November 2022: a $30 million contribution from the Government of Canada's Strategic Innovation Fund to support development of general-purpose humanoid robots.
July 2024: strategic financing from BDC Capital's Thrive Venture Fund and InBC, British Columbia's strategic investment fund. Sanctuary said the investment brought its lifetime funding to more than $140 million. The amount of this specific round wasn't disclosed.
Other investors named over time include Accenture, Export Development Canada, Evok Innovations, SE Health and Workday Ventures.
Leadership change and layoffs
In November 2024, The Logic reported that Sanctuary's board had removed co-founder and CEO Geordie Rose, and that the company had laid off more than 30 employees around the same time. The same report said Sanctuary was seeking to raise a US$10 million convertible note to fund its 2025 fiscal year. These reports point to the funding pressure many deep tech companies have faced as investors became more cautious about long, capital-intensive development cycles.
Revenue: what's public
Sanctuary hasn't published revenue, and we haven't found any reliable figure. Humanoid robotics companies at this stage typically earn little revenue relative to their spending. Some generate income from pilot deployments, research partnerships or licensing, but their value rests mainly on technical progress and future commercial potential. Investors judge them on milestones rather than sales. See our guide to valuing pre-revenue companies.
The competitive race
Sanctuary is part of a global race. Well-funded companies in the US and China, as well as large technology and automotive companies, are developing humanoid robots, and some have raised far larger sums. In that context, Sanctuary's challenge is to stand out technically, particularly on dexterous manipulation, while securing enough capital to keep pace. Its use of government funding alongside venture capital reflects a common Canadian approach to deep tech, which tends to have fewer very large private funding sources than the US.
Comparing Sanctuary and Waabi
It's instructive to compare Sanctuary with another Canadian physical AI company, Waabi. Both are founded by prominent AI researchers and both are tackling problems where the physical world makes AI much harder. Waabi raised a US$750 million Series C in 2026, with Uber as a strategic partner and a clear commercial path through autonomous trucking and robotaxis. Sanctuary's path to large-scale commercial deployment is less defined, which helps explain the difference in their recent funding outcomes. For deep tech founders, the lesson is that a credible, specific route to revenue makes very large rounds much easier.
Government funding in Canadian deep tech
Sanctuary's funding history highlights how important government sources can be for Canadian deep tech. The Strategic Innovation Fund, BDC Capital, InBC and Export Development Canada all contributed. These programs can fill gaps when private investors are cautious, and they often come with expectations around jobs and activity in Canada. Our guide to non-dilutive funding explains how these programs fit into a funding strategy.
What to watch next
Key signals include new funding and its terms, permanent leadership appointments, commercial pilots with named customers, and technical demonstrations of its robot hands and AI systems. In a sector with intense competition and large capital needs, partnerships with manufacturers or large employers could matter more than headline funding numbers.
Key facts at a glance
Sanctuary AI is a Vancouver humanoid robotics company founded in 2018 by Geordie Rose and Suzanne Gildert. It raised a US$58.5 million Series A in 2022, received $30 million from Canada's Strategic Innovation Fund that year, and in 2024 secured strategic financing from BDC Capital and InBC that brought lifetime funding to over $140 million. In November 2024 the board removed Rose as CEO and the company cut more than 30 jobs, according to The Logic.
What this means if you're…
Selling to Sanctuary: a capital-constrained deep tech company focuses spending on what advances core technology: compute, specialised components, simulation and engineering tools.
Exploring robotics for your operations: ask any robotics vendor for evidence from real deployments, not just demonstrations, and be clear about which tasks are proven today.
A deep tech founder: combine government programs with private capital, and line up commercial partners early to show a path to revenue.
Latest developments (October 2026)
Sanctuary AI has been quieter since its 2024 leadership change. The Logic reported in January 2025 that the Vancouver company raised about US$10 million after replacing its chief executive. In 2026 it has focused on dexterous robotic hands; a German-language report in April 2026 described progress in handling unfamiliar objects, which we have not been able to verify. Industry tracker IDTechEx puts its total funding at about US$140 million. See our humanoid robot companies guide.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from the public sources below. Where sources disagreed, we used the company's own announcement or a primary news report. Private-company data changes; check the date beside each figure.
Frequently asked questions
What does Sanctuary AI do?
Sanctuary AI is a artificial intelligence / humanoid robotics company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 2018.
What is Sanctuary AI's valuation?
Sanctuary AI has not publicly disclosed a valuation in the sources we track.
How much revenue does Sanctuary AI make?
Sanctuary AI is a private company and has not publicly disclosed its revenue. Figures on third-party sites are usually modelled estimates rather than numbers reported by the company.
What was Sanctuary AI's latest funding round?
The most recent financing we have verified is a strategic financing in Jul 2024: Not disclosed (brought lifetime funding to over $140M). Source: Sanctuary AI.
Who are Sanctuary AI's investors?
Investors named in public announcements include Magna, Bell, Verizon Ventures, Accenture, Export Development Canada, Evok Innovations, SE Health, Workday Ventures, BDC Capital and InBC.
Who founded Sanctuary AI?
Sanctuary AI was founded in 2018 by Geordie Rose and Suzanne Gildert.
Is Sanctuary AI a public company?
No. Sanctuary AI is a private company (private, venture and government backed), so its shares are not traded on a stock exchange and it isn't required to publish its financial results.
Where is Sanctuary AI headquartered?
Sanctuary AI is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. See our guide to raising money in Canada for context on the Vancouver startup ecosystem.