Published: October 16, 2026
StartupFeed Quick Take
- Origin raised $20 Mn, co-led by Accel and Zacua Ventures, after 18 months in stealth.
- CEO Yogesh Ghaturle earlier built Perpule, which Amazon bought in 2021; Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures backed this round.
- The startup wants 150 robots on site by the end of 2027; its OG-1 finishes walls at three times human speed.
Origin, a San Francisco startup co-founded by Perpule’s Yogesh Ghaturle, has raised $20 Mn to put its wall-finishing construction robots on more job sites.
The Perpule founder knows Indian startup exits well. Ghaturle sold Perpule, a Bengaluru retail-tech firm, to Amazon in 2021. All three of Origin’s founders are Indian-origin, and Ronnie Screwvala’s Unilazer Ventures has joined the cap table.
Accel and Zacua Ventures co-led the round, Origin said in its launch statement. The cash will build a fleet of its OG-1 robot.
Much of the skilled work inside a building is still done by hand. It drives more than 65% of a project’s timeline.
From Perpule Founder to Construction Robots
Origin was founded in early 2025 by Yogesh Ghaturle, Ashish Daga and Tushar Makkar. Ghaturle, the chief executive, earlier built Perpule, a Bengaluru cloud point-of-sale startup that Amazon bought in 2021 for about $14.7 Mn. Most of that team joined Amazon.
His co-founders bring hardware and AI. Makkar leads autonomy and spent years building AI systems, most recently at Eightfold AI. Daga leads hardware and earlier built precision machines at Morphle Labs, an Indian pathology firm.
Their pitch is simple. Robots take the dull, risky finishing work, and crews run the site. The three stayed in stealth for 18 months, and put their first machines on real job sites before any launch.
Ghaturle frames the company around one idea.
“We started Origin to bring physical AI to interior trades.”
Yogesh Ghaturle, co-founder and CEO, Origin. From the company’s launch statement, October 2026.
What the OG-1 Robot Does
Origin’s OG-1 is a mobile robot that finishes interior walls on its own. It applies compound, sands and primes, and reaches up to 14 feet for high walls and ceilings. It fits through a normal door.
The robot works next to a crew, with no fenced-off zone. People handle site mapping and refilling materials, and the machine does the finishing. Origin says it works at three times human speed, at human-level quality.
Under the shell sits the Construction Action Model, a single AI system built for building sites. It plans each task, drives the robot around obstacles, and corrects its own motion. Contractors rent the robot rather than buy it.
Origin put its first robots on New York job sites within 10 months of starting up. They now run across offices, apartments, data centres, hotels and warehouses. Taping, drywall and drilling are next on the same platform.
Who Put In the Money
Accel and Zacua Ventures co-led the $20 Mn round. Unilazer Ventures, Schema Ventures and Z21 also invested. Angel investors from Anduril, Skild AI, 1X and Tesla joined too.
Vivin Hegde, a founding partner at Zacua Ventures, has taken a board seat. Origin plans to grow its fleet to 150 robots by the end of 2027. It will also run large pilots in the United States and Europe.
The startup is scouting further pilots in Germany, Sweden, France and Saudi Arabia. A construction-robotics report from Zacua, an Origin backer, counted $1.36 Bn of venture funding in the first nine months of 2025. That was up 125% from a year earlier.
Even so, robots still do under 0.03% of the work, the same report found. One forecast puts the global construction-robotics market at $12 Bn by 2036. The table below sets the startup beside India’s clearest rival.
| Measure | Origin | Flo Mobility |
|---|---|---|
| Base | San Francisco, US | Bengaluru, India |
| Latest round | $20 Mn (stealth exit) | $2.5 Mn (pre-Series A) |
| Lead investors | Accel, Zacua Ventures | Mela Ventures, Arali Ventures |
| Robots on site | Few now; 150 target by 2027 | 60+ across 10 states |
| Flagship job | Wall finishing | Material hauling |
| Model | Rent per robot | Rent per robot |
What It Means for India’s Construction-Robotics Startups
India already builds its own construction robots, so this round is a benchmark at home. Flo Mobility, a Bengaluru startup, raised $2.5 Mn this year. It runs more than 60 robots across 10 states.
Manesh Jain and Pratik Patel started Flo Mobility in 2021. Its robots haul material for builders like L&T, Godrej Properties and Embassy Group. Pace Robotics is another Indian name in the same young field.
The split is clear. Indian-origin founders built Origin for American sites, while Indian startups prove the idea on Indian ones for far less money. Unilazer’s cheque shows Indian capital is now following the founders abroad.
For founders, the lesson is about reliability, not demos. A robot that holds up in week three on a messy site is the real moat. India’s labour shortage and building boom make it a market, not only a talent pool.
What this means for you: If you are an Indian founder planning a deep-tech second act, or you run a construction-robotics startup, Origin’s round is a live benchmark. Watch whether Indian funds like Unilazer back more robotics at home, and track Origin’s push to 150 robots by the end of 2027.
StartupFeed Insight
The gap is the story. Global investors put $1.36 Bn into construction robots in nine months of 2025. Flo Mobility, India’s clearest comparison, raised $2.5 Mn. Indian-origin founders are building this category for American sites, while Indian startups prove it on home ground for a fraction of the cheque. The hard part is not the demo. It is a robot that still works in week three on a messy site, which is why Origin stayed quiet for 18 months. Expect at least one India-based construction-robotics startup to raise a round above $10 Mn before the end of 2027.
By Avinash Mishra, Business Correspondent
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