FORT Robotics to go public via SPAC deal valuing it at $557M
What's the deal? FORT Robotics, a Philadelphia safety platform for robots, will go public by merging with Newbury Street II Acquisition CorpDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a special purpose acquisition company. The combined entity — FORT Robotics Holdings — will list on Nasdaq under the ticker "FROB," at a pro-forma enterprise value of $556.6 million.
What each side brings: Founded in 2018, FORT builds what it calls The Trust Layer — safety infrastructure that lets autonomous machines from different makers operate around humans. Newbury Street II is a SPAC that provides the public-listing vehicle.
By the numbers: FORT's revenue rose 62% year-on-year in 2025. The company has signed commitments to raise over $31 million in common equity through PIPE and non-redemption agreements from investors including Tiger Global, Prologis VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Mark CubanDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What's the endgame? FORT wants to be the universal safety layer across robotics. Its platform holds 25 patents and is certified to Safety Integrity Level 3 under IEC 61508. It serves more than 600 customers, including Agility Robotics, DoorDash, Zoox, TextronDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Google DeepMind.
Why now? Going public positions FORT to fund product development, expand globally, and pursue acquisitions as robotics adoption accelerates. In May 2026, it acquired Mapless AIDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, adding remote human-in-the-loop control to its platform.
Who's steering it? CEO Samuel Reeves founded FORT from his earlier company Humanistic Robotics, which built machines to clear landmines. The post-closing board is set to include DHL Supply Chain global CIO Sally Miller, former Uber executive Jennifer Vescio, University of Pennsylvania engineering dean Vijay Kumar, and Vecna Robotics CEO Karl Iagnemma.
The signal: The deal creates what FORT calls the first publicly traded company focused on the safe deployment of physical AI. As humanoids and autonomous machines move into warehouses, transport, and defence, a machine-agnostic safety layer aims to be the infrastructure the industry builds on — and a public listing tests investor appetite for that bet.
Image credit: FORT Robotics
Read more: PR Newswire
