Proception Raises $11M Seed for Dexterous Robotic Hand

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Proception, a company based in Palo Alto, California, has raised $11 million in a Seed round led by First Round Capital, with participation from Y Combinator and BoxGroup.

Founded by former Tesla Optimus engineers Jay Li and Jack Xu, Proception builds robotics hardware, specifically dexterous robotic hands for humanoids and other machines. Its first product, ProHand 1.0, is a 22 degree of freedom hand that uses a tendon driven design, where motors pull cables to move the fingers, keeping them light and compact in a way that echoes how muscles and tendons move a human hand.

The company says it worked with hand surgeons on the design, which packs multiple joints into each finger and adds skin like sensors that detect contact while gripping. Alongside ProHand, Proception is launching ProGlove, a wearable that uses the same sensor skin to capture how people touch, hold, and adjust objects, generating training data for robots.

Proception has begun shipping its first hands to researchers and robotics companies and is opening up wider orders. The company disclosed the raise on the same day it settled a trade secret lawsuit brought by Tesla, and said the new money will go toward hiring, production, and further development of its hardware and data systems.