Enigma lands $71M to figure out what humans actually want from a robot

A new startup called Enigma is emerging from stealth with a $71 million seed round and a contrarian thesis: the robotics industry’s obsession with building more capable foundation models is putting the cart before the horse. Founded by Jonathan Jacobi and Gal Niv, two Unit 8200 veterans with zero formal robotics experience, the company wants to first understand how humans intuitively want to communicate with machines — and only then build the brain that supports that interaction.

Backed by Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, and Sarah Guo of Conviction Partners, Enigma has built over 100 proprietary robotic arms and the models that control them entirely in-house. The robots, housed in hangars in Israel and California, can already sketch with a paintbrush, duel with swords, and conduct basic chemistry experiments. But the real product is a massive, public-facing experiment launching Monday that lets anyone in the world control these robots online. The goal is to collect real-world data on whether people prefer talking, showing video examples, or using tactile interfaces like drag-and-drop.

Jacobi argues the current state of play is broken. “If you had to do your dishes and spent 15 minutes explaining to a robot where to put everything, everyone reaches the point of ‘Forget it, I’ll just do it myself,’” he told TechCrunch. The interface should be as effortless as a car’s volume knob — you turn it and know what to expect. His team, composed of math Olympiad winners and AI lab alumni he describes as his “smartest friends,” is betting that data from this open-ended experiment will reveal a design pattern that becomes the robotics equivalent of that knob.

Shardul Shah of Index Ventures frames the outsider bet plainly. “An insider may start with the capability of teleoperation or dexterity, but Enigma is starting from a very different place: ‘What’s the ultimate experience?’” The startup is already partnering with companies in healthcare, logistics, and entertainment, though Jacobi declined to name specific use cases. That ambiguity is the gamble — a $71 million bet that the most important interface problem in robotics isn’t a model at all, but a conversation.