Human Archive Raises $8.2M Seed Round for Physical AI Data Infrastructure
Human Archive raised an $8.2 million Seed round to expand its physical AI dataset infrastructure, capturing real-world human motion and tactile data across service sectors. Backed by Y Combinator, Wing Venture Capital, and NVP Capital, as reported by Pulse 2.0, the Mountain View-based company is expanding hardware, software, and field operations to build custom data collection devices and scale operations across India and the United States.
Multimodal Real-World Data for Robotics
Human Archive builds multimodal real-world datasets designed for robotics and world modeling. Rather than relying solely on simulation or web video, the company collects egocentric, first-person video, force feedback, and movement data. Workers wear custom caps equipped with cameras alongside tactile gloves, wrist cameras, and full-body motion-capture suits to capture synchronized RGB-D imagery, motion data, and tactile force information during everyday tasks.
As reported by Tech Edition, the startup operates over 1,000 active camera headsets and seven hardware products across multiple data collection modalities. Human Archive partners with service providers in home maintenance, hospitality, and restaurant sectors, while offering consumers discounted services when agreeing to recorded sessions. To address data privacy, all footage is anonymized and faces are blurred in compliance with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act. Zach DeWitt, a partner at Wing Venture Capital, stated to TechCrunch that "every major lab and university is interested in running experiments on it due to the novelty of the sensors and the scale of the new dataset."
Founder Backgrounds
Human Archive was founded in 2026 by CEO Raj Patel, Rushil Agarwal, Samay Maini, and Shloke Patel.
- Raj Patel studied data science at the University of California, Berkeley, describing his background as a "Berkeley dropout and previous farmer (sold mangoes & planted trees)".
- Rushil Agarwal studied industrial engineering, operations research, and business at UC Berkeley in the Management, Entrepreneurship, & Technology (MET) program.
- Samay Maini completed a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley from 2023 to 2025.
- Shloke Patel brings a focus on physical hardware systems and robotics development.
Seed Capital and Investor Backing
According to A3 Association for Advancing Automation, the $8.2 million funding round also included angel investors connected to OpenAI, Nvidia, Google, Meta, Mercor, AfterQuery, BAIR, and SAIL. The capital will fund hardware synchronization, dataset processing pipelines, and pilot programs in the U.S. focused on home services like cleaning and cooking.
Hiring Focus Across Hardware and Engineering
Human Archive is expanding its technical team to build wearable capture hardware and manage data synchronization. The company is recruiting a Head of Engineering to oversee engineering across San Francisco and India. In India, the company is hiring an Embedded / Electrical Engineer and a Firmware Engineer to refine custom wearable collection rigs.
To support wearable system design and testing, Human Archive is hiring a Mechanical Engineer - Wearable Systems in India and an Industrial Designer intern in San Francisco.
Open Roles at Human Archive
| Role | Location | Work Mode | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| QA / Hardware Test Engineer | IN | Onsite | INR 1,800,000 - 3,000,000 / year |
| Embedded / Electrical Engineer | IN | Onsite | INR 2,500,000 - 4,000,000 / year |
| Firmware Engineer | IN | Onsite | INR 2,200,000 - 3,500,000 / year |
| Mechanical Engineer - Wearable Systems | IN | Onsite | INR 1,800,000 - 3,000,000 / year |
| Head of Engineering | San Francisco, CA, US / IN | Onsite | USD 140,000 - 210,000 / year |
| Industrial Designer | San Francisco, CA, US | Onsite | USD 80,000 - 110,000 / year |
| Videographer | IN | Onsite | INR 1,250,000 - 2,490,000 / year |
| Operations Manager | IN | Onsite | INR 1,500,000 - 3,000,000 / year |
