Physical AI Daily - August 22, 2026

Alibaba-backed Dexmal is seeking new funding at a roughly $3 billion valuation while combining embodied foundation models with an already-deployed warehouse robotics business. Veeda AI raises $90 million to build simulated reality for robot learning, Sebastian Thrun quietly launches a startup focused on foundation models for hardware design, and the World Humanoid Robot Games open with a humanoid completing a 100-meter test in 9.32 seconds. Today: the race to accelerate every part of the Physical AI learning loop.