\n<\/p>\n
Figure 03 humanoid robot. Screenshot from a Brett Adcock tweet.<\/span><\/p>\n John Koetsier<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Figure got a job at dad\u2019s company. Not literally, of course, because humanoid robots don\u2019t have dads. Or moms. But figuratively (sorry) because a key investor in Figure\u2019s series C investment round just decided to bring in Junior to help with distribution and logistics.<\/p>\n The company is Catalyst Brands, a multi-brand retail holding company that owns JCPenney, A\u00e9ropostale, Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, Lucky Brand and Nautica: about $9 billion in revenue and 60,000 employees across roughly 1,800 stores. It\u2019s 50% owned by Brookfield, which was part of Figure\u2019s $1 billion Series C at a $39 billion post-money valuation.<\/p>\n \u201cThis agreement marks the first commercial bridge between Figure and a portfolio company of Brookfield,” Figure said<\/a> in a statement. \u201dAs a shared investor in both companies, Brookfield\u2019s support reflects a unified vision for the future of industrial automation.”<\/p>\n The “got a job” milestone has been moving fast and furious for two years now in the humanoid robots space.<\/p>\n In November 2024, Agility Robotics\u2019 Digit was the only humanoid robot on the planet with a paying gig, CEO Peggy Johnson told me at Web Summit that year. Five weeks later, Figure 02 shipped to its first commercial customer, making Figure the second. In February 2026, Agility signed a robots-as-a-service deal with Toyota Canada. And just recently in April, Agibot\u2019s wheeled G2 went live on a tablet production line in China: the first humanoid on a high-speed electronics manufacturing line.<\/p>\n A signed distribution-center deal in 2026 is no longer a category first. What makes Catalyst significant is breadth: six retail banners, a stated intention to deploy \u201cacross a diverse, multi-brand portfolio\u201d and the financial structure underneath it.<\/p>\n Figure\u2019s news is pretty light on specifics.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know how many robots Figure will ship to Reno, where they\u2019ll start working at Catalyst\u2019s Nevada Distribution Logistics Center. We don\u2019t know when, though it\u2019s presumably soon. We also don\u2019t know whether this is a purchase, lease, or robots-as-a-service deal, or what tasks specifically the robots will do.<\/p>\n Figure does say its robots will start by \u201cfocusing on automating physically demanding tasks within the supply chain” and that they \u201ccan be deployed across a diverse, multi-brand portfolio instantly.\u201d<\/p>\nWhere this sits in the humanoid robot get-a-job race<\/h3>\n
Of course, there\u2019s a lot we don\u2019t know yet<\/h3>\n
The reaction on Threads: a sign of the times?<\/h3>\n