1X made a deal to send their “homemade” humanoids to factories and warehouses

1X has found some big potential buyers for its consumer-designed bots — the investment firms of one of its investors.

The robotics company announced a strategic partnership to make thousands of humanoid robots available to EQT portfolio companies on Thursday. EQT is a large Swedish multi-asset investor, and its venture fund EQT Ventures is a 1X backer.

This deal involves shipping up to 10,000 1X Neo robots between 2026 and 2030 to more than 300 EQT companies with a focus on manufacturing, warehousing, logistics and other industrial use cases.

1X will sign individual deals with each of the companies interested in the EQT portfolio, 1X confirmed to TechCrunch.

This partnership is particularly interesting because 1X’s Neo is marketed as a human for personal use and is billed as “the first consumer-ready humanoid robot designed to transform life in the home.” Unlike some of 1X’s peers, such as Shape, it was not marketed as a bot for commercial purposes.

1X has a robot designed for industrial purposes, Eve Industrial, but this deal specifically includes the new human.

When the company opened pre-orders for the $20,000 robot in October, the ad focused on how the robot would work in someone’s home by describing the different tasks the robot can do and how it interacts with people.

This deal is a completely different use case.

This is likely because humanoid robots for the home will remain a difficult sell for some time, while industrial use cases are easier to sell. The $20,000 price tag automatically limits the potential pool of consumer customers as well.

Neo also specifically comes with a privacy element as well that may be hard to comprehend for many people – 1X human operators can look through the eyes of robots into someone’s home.

Humanoids also come with potential safety issues around pets and small children due to their size and instability. Several venture capitalists and robotics scientists told TechCrunch this summer that adoption of humanoid robots would not be for several years if not a decade.

The company declined to share the number of pre-orders it has received for its Neo bot, but a spokesperson said pre-orders “far exceeded” the company’s goal.

1x was founded in 2014 and has since raised more than $130 million in venture capital from companies including EQT Ventures, Tiger Global, OpenAI Startup Fund and others.