Veeda AI Raises $90M Seed for Physical AI Simulation

In a significant development for the burgeoning field of embodied artificial intelligence, Toronto-based startup Veeda AI has successfully closed a substantial $90 million USD seed funding round. This capital infusion, announced by Radical Ventures, positions the company to accelerate its mission of creating sophisticated simulation environments for training AI agents that interact with the physical world. The funding round was co-led by prominent venture capital firms Khosla Ventures and Radical Ventures, with additional backing from 2077 Ventures.

Founded just three months prior to this announcement, Veeda AI is developing advanced "world models" designed to replicate physical reality in scalable virtual spaces. This technology aims to overcome a critical bottleneck in robotics and autonomous systems development: the inherent limitations and risks of real-world training. By enabling AI agents to learn through extensive trial-and-error in a simulated environment, Veeda AI seeks to dramatically reduce the time, cost, and potential for physical damage associated with traditional training methods. The company's founders have ambitiously described their goal as building the foundational "Matrix" for physical AI.

The leadership team at Veeda AI brings a wealth of expertise from Nvidia, a recognized leader in AI and simulation technology. CEO Sanja Fidler, formerly the head of Nvidia's Spatial Intelligence Lab in Toronto, spent eight years developing simulation technologies for autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots. She was instrumental in building Nvidia's initial world models for physical AI. CTO Zan Gojcic and Chief Scientist Huan Ling are also former colleagues from the same lab, bringing complementary skills and a shared vision to Veeda AI.

This substantial seed round underscores the intense investor interest in world model technology, a category that has seen significant capital allocation in 2026. The market is witnessing a surge in startups focused on creating comprehensive digital twins of reality for various AI applications. For instance, AMI Labs, founded by Yann LeCun, secured over $1 billion, while Fei-Fei Li's World Labs has raised more than $1.1 billion for its spatial intelligence initiatives. In the autonomous driving sector, Wayve, also supported by Khosla Ventures, raised $1.5 billion. Even the gaming industry is seeing major investments, with Decart raising $300 million for its real-time world models.

Veeda AI intends to leverage this significant funding to expand its global team across key locations, including Toronto and Zurich. The capital will be primarily directed towards hiring top-tier AI researchers and engineers, as well as building out the robust simulation infrastructure necessary to support its ambitious development roadmap. The company's focus on physical AI training differentiates it within this competitive space, aiming to provide a crucial enabling technology for the next generation of intelligent robots and autonomous systems.

The strategic backing from Khosla Ventures and Radical Ventures, both active investors in transformative AI technologies, signals strong confidence in Veeda AI's potential. Notably, these two firms recently co-led the seed round for Discovery Loop, another venture founded by a prominent AI figure. This pattern highlights a broader trend of significant investment flowing into foundational AI research and development aimed at solving complex real-world problems through advanced simulation and modeling.