FORT Robotics has agreed to go public through a business combination with Newbury Street II Acquisition Corp., valuing the combined physical AI safety company at an implied pro forma enterprise value of $556.6 million.
The transaction assigns FORT a pre-money equity value of $500 million and is expected to result in the combined company trading on Nasdaq under the ticker FROB as FORT Robotics Holdings.
The transaction is expected to provide approximately $201 million in gross proceeds, assuming no redemptions by Newbury Street II shareholders.
That includes approximately $31 million of committed common equity through PIPE and non-redemption agreement investments from new and existing institutional investors, including Tiger Global, Prologis Ventures and Mark Cuban.
FORT expects approximately $182 million of net cash to reach its balance sheet after estimated transaction costs, assuming no redemptions.
FORT plans to use the capital to accelerate development of safety intelligence, observability and cybersecurity software, expand global go-to-market and channel programs, and pursue targeted acquisitions.
Existing FORT shareholders will roll 100% of their equity into the transaction and are expected to own approximately 67% of the combined company at closing, assuming no redemptions.
Founded in 2018, FORT develops what it calls the Trust Layer for Physical AI, a machine- and application-agnostic safety infrastructure platform designed to enable autonomous machines from different manufacturers to operate around people and within shared environments.
The platform is supported by 25 patents and has been certified to meet Safety Integrity Level 3 under IEC 61508.
FORT serves more than 600 customers, including Agility Robotics, Google DeepMind, Cobot, Zoox, Textron, DoorDash and others.
Its technology has been deployed across more than 19,500 units spanning warehousing, transportation, manufacturing, construction, agriculture, mining, energy and defense.
FORT reported 62% year-over-year revenue growth in 2025, including 91% growth among mature enterprise accounts spending more than $100,000 annually.
Gross margin was 66% in 2025 compared with 70% in 2024, while operating expenses increased 19%.
No individual customer represented more than 9% of 2025 revenue, and the number of six-figure customers has increased 3.8x since 2021.
The company expanded its safety platform in May through the acquisition of Mapless AI, adding remote human-in-the-loop control and onboard active safety capabilities.
FORT also recently entered a strategic collaboration with NVIDIA through the Halos for Robotics ecosystem.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by both boards and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to shareholder, regulatory, SEC and Nasdaq approvals and other closing conditions.
KEY QUOTES:
“Physical AI will change the way we work in every industry, and this will be a game changer for workers, organizations and governments worldwide.”
“However, these new machines come with a completely new and different risk profile, and that must be addressed before autonomous systems can scale. FORT’s mission is to ‘ensure robots cause no harm’ and we are dedicated to pioneering and building a shared framework for trust that robot manufacturers, integrators, end users, regulators, insurers, governments and any other interested party can rely on.”
Samuel Reeves, Founder and CEO of FORT Robotics
“Newbury Street II is proud to partner with FORT, a category-defining platform addressing one of the world’s most complex infrastructure challenges.”
“The robotics revolution is at an inflection point, and we believe FORT’s universal layer of trust can accelerate widespread adoption.”
Thomas Bushey, CEO of Newbury Street II
“As physical AI moves into core industrial infrastructure, safety is paramount. FORT has built a critical, machine-agnostic trust layer that enables enterprise autonomy to scale safely.”
Griffin Schroeder, Partner at Tiger Global
