(Right to left) Daniel Yu, Renton Hsu and Dave Liu, co-founders of MetAI.
MetAI Technology
MetAI Technologya Taipei-based startup that makes 3D simulations for the logistics and manufacturing industries announced Wednesday that it has raised $4 million from investors including billionaire Jensen Huang’s chip giant Nvidia.
Other investors who joined the seed round include Taiwanese electronics manufacturing company Kenmec Mechanical Engineering and industrial automation software provider Solomon Technology, as well as local venture capital firms Addin Ventures, SparkLabs Taiwan and Upstream Ventures, MetAI said in a press release. MetAI is “the first Taiwanese company in Nvidia’s portfolio,” according to Edgar Chiu, co-founder of SparkLabs Taiwan. in a Linkedin article.
Founded in 2023, MetAI said it has developed software that uses AI to convert 2D floor plans of automated warehouses into 3D simulations in minutes, compared to around 300 hours using other methods. Such simulations, called digital twins, allow logistics companies to test the efficiency of their warehouses and facilities before deploying them into the real world. MetAI software can be used within Nvidia’s Omniverse digital twin platform.
MetAI said it would use the funds for research, development and hiring. The company will also expand into the United States to target customers such as semiconductor manufacturers, automated warehouse operators and robotics companies.
A virtual warehouse generated using MetAI technology.
MetAI Technology
“The development of physically accurate digital twins is considered a barrier to entry for those seeking to develop physical AI at scale,” Daniel Yu, co-founder and CEO of MetAI, said in the press release. “We are changing this conversation by enabling companies to instantly train AI systems, whether for robotics, logistics or manufacturing, in physics-based virtual environments with unprecedented efficiency and scalability.
MetAI said its digital twin technology can be used to build so-called “large world models,” a type of AI model that simulates the real world so that autonomous machines such as robots and robots autonomous cars can be trained and tested.
Startups looking to build “big global models” include San Francisco-based World Labs. Co-founded by Fei-Fei Li, former chief AI scientist at Google Cloud, World Labs is backed by, among others, NVentures, the venture capital arm of Nvidia.
