Kleiner Perkins partner Ilya Fushman says something has fundamentally shifted in robotics, and venture capital is taking notice. In a Bloomberg TV interview, Fushman declared that the moment for robotics has finally arrived, pointing to a powerful combination of falling hardware costs and dramatically more capable AI models. That convergence, he argues, is unlocking massive opportunities across the physical world, from autonomous transportation like Waymo to robotics, manufacturing and even defense. For Fushman, this isn't just incremental progress, it's the kind of inflection point that could define the next generation of major technology companies.

Kleiner Perkins is putting real money behind that thesis. Fushman has backed companies like Chai Discovery, which is pushing forward antibody and drug development, and NewLimit, which is focused on cellular rejuvenation, alongside physical automation plays like Motive, Saronic and Mind Robotics. The firm recently led a $400 million round in Mind Robotics, an industrial robotics company building AI-powered systems for manufacturing, underscoring just how seriously Kleiner Perkins is leaning into what it calls physical AI. Fushman's outlook reflects a broader shift in venture capital sentiment, one that sees the next wave of trillion-dollar companies emerging not from software alone, but from AI's expansion into tangible, physical sectors of the economy.