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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: Seed. Key investors include ["NVIDIA Inception","Story Protocol"].

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

["Egocentric Data Collection Network","ZenO Public Beta Platform","AI Data IP Management Layer (Story Protocol Integration)","Physical AI Training Datasets (POV Video/Audio)"]

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 by former Figure and Microsoft product leader Dawn Kim","Selected for the NVIDIA Inception program for high-potential AI startups","Established strategic integration with Story Protocol for AI data IP management","Launched Public Beta for real-world data collection in February 2026"]

Growth metrics

Transitioned from stealth to Public Beta in February 2026; currently scaling a decentralized network of data contributors for egocentric video/audio collection.

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.

Official website: