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ZenO

Category: Robotics / Embodied AI

A decentralized data infrastructure platform designed to solve the 'data bottleneck' in Physical AI by collecting and managing high-quality, egocentric (POV) video and audio datasets for robotics training. ZenO was founded in 2024. The company is led by Dawn Kim. Based in Palo Alto, USA. Team size: 1-10. Total funding raised: Undisclosed. Latest round: Pre-Seed.

Founded
2024
Headquarters
Palo Alto, USA
Team size
1-10
Total funding
Undisclosed

Value proposition

Provides a scalable solution for acquiring hard-to-reach real-world POV data while utilizing blockchain-based protocols to ensure data provenance, IP rights clearing, and fair compensation for data contributors.

Products and solutions

ZenO Core (mission-based capture; Live), ZenO App (contributor app; Beta), ZenO Lab (sim teleop / imitation learning proof; Live), ZenO Aero / View smart glasses (waitlist), Hugging Face public datasets (zeno-labs / EgoStation), Story Protocol IP / provenance layer

Unique value

Focuses specifically on 'Physical AI' data—real-world, first-person perspective sensory input—which is significantly more scarce and difficult to collect than the web-scraped text used for LLMs.

Target customer

Humanoid robotics manufacturers, Physical AI researchers, autonomous agent developers, and AI model trainers.

Industries served

Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Data Infrastructure, Autonomous Systems

Technology advantage

Leverages a decentralized architecture to crowdsource data collection while integrating automated IP management to solve the legal and ethical hurdles of AI data sourcing. Led by a founding team with direct experience in humanoid robotics (Figure) and hyperscale product management (Microsoft/Amazon).

How they differentiate

Focuses exclusively on 'Physical AI' through egocentric (POV) data collection, utilizing a decentralized network and blockchain-based IP management (via Story Protocol) to solve data provenance and ownership issues that traditional data labeling firms do not address.

Main competitors

Scale AI, Viam, Grass (Wynd Network)

Key partnerships

Story Protocol (Strategic integration for IP management and data provenance), NVIDIA Inception (Member of the program for advanced AI and robotics startups)

Notable customers

Humanoid robotics manufacturers, Physical AI research laboratories, Autonomous agent developers

Major milestones

Founded in 2024; Dawn Kim Co-Founder (press), NVIDIA Inception member, Story Protocol integration for data IP/provenance, Public Beta launched February 2026, Public datasets on Hugging Face (zeno-labs) from May 2026, ZenO Core/Lab live and ZenO App beta; ZenO Aero glasses waitlist (2026)

Growth metrics

Post-beta traction (official site): 12,763 teleop demos; 820+ hrs/mo egocentric video across 23 task domains; 145 global contributors; public catalog live on Hugging Face (sample tier).

Market positioning

Specialized infrastructure layer for Embodied AI and Humanoid Robotics, positioned as the primary source for high-quality, real-world sensory datasets.

Geographic focus

Global (decentralized data collection network) with a primary corporate focus on the North American robotics and AI hub (Palo Alto, CA).

Patents and IP

No registered patents disclosed as of latest update; focuses on proprietary data collection methodologies and protocol integrations.

About Dawn Kim

Dawn Kim is a seasoned product leader in the robotics and AI sectors. Prior to co-founding ZenO, she held a key product role at Figure, a leading humanoid robotics company, where she focused on the development of embodied AI. Her professional background includes significant tenures as a Product Manager at Microsoft and Amazon, where she managed large-scale tech ecosystems and product launches.

Latest news about ZenO

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