Proception
Summary active Updated Jun 30, 2026This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.
Investors
Founders
About
Proception is a robotics startup developing high-dexterity robotic hands designed to mimic the capabilities of human hands 12. The company’s robotic hand features 22 degrees of freedom and multiple joints per finger to enable a wide range of dexterous motions 1. To train its models, Proception developed a sensor-laden glove that captures human hand interaction data without requiring a robot in the loop 1. The company was founded by Zhongjie ‘Jay’ Li, a former technical lead on Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot program; Li and Tesla reached a settlement of a trade secret lawsuit dismissed shortly before the funding announcement 12. Proception is a Y Combinator-backed company and is shipping its first batch of robotic hands to researchers and robotics companies 1.
Disclaimer: This is a lean profile built from initial round coverage and may be expanded as more information becomes available.
Funding History
| Date | Round | Amount | Lead | Co-investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-29 | Seed | $11M | First Round Capital | Y Combinator, BoxGroup 12 |
Bill Trenchard, Partner at First Round Capital, led the investment 1.
What Investors Say
“We think they will have the best hand in the market, maybe the most sophisticated hand today, and the underlying data and models to support that.” — Bill Trenchard, Partner, First Round Capital, quoted in TechCrunch’s June 29, 2026 coverage 1
What Founders Say
“You need both hardware and data, and those need to come hand-in-hand to get [dextrous manipulation] to work.” — Zhongjie ‘Jay’ Li, Founder & CEO, Proception, quoted in TechCrunch’s June 29, 2026 coverage 1
Sources
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Brian Heater, “Exclusive: Robot hand company settles Tesla trade secret suit and announces $11M raise,” TechCrunch, June 29, 2026. Accessed June 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/29/robot-hand-company-settles-tesla-trade-secret-suit-and-announces-11m-raise/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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The Next Web, “Ex-Tesla Optimus engineer settles trade secret lawsuit and raises $11M to build robot hands,” June 29, 2026. Accessed June 2026. https://thenextweb.com/news/proception-robot-hand-tesla-trade-secret-settlement-seed-round↩↩↩