1X Technologies is the OpenAI-backed company betting that humanoid robots belong in homes before factories. Founded in Norway in 2014 as Halodi Robotics and now headquartered in Palo Alto, 1X — led by founder-CEO Bernt Børnich — builds NEO, the first purpose-built home humanoid with published consumer pricing: $20,000 to buy or $499/month to subscribe, with more than 10,000 pre-orders reported and a Hayward, California factory rated for 10,000 units a year. In a separate enterprise channel, 1X signed a deal with EQT to deploy up to 10,000 NEO robots across EQT’s 300+ portfolio companies between 2026 and 2030.
The cap-table situation is unusually fluid, and anyone considering exposure should understand it precisely:
- In September 2025, 1X was reported to be seeking up to $1 billion at a valuation of at least $10 billion — up from roughly $820 million earlier that year. As of mid-2026, no close of that round had been announced. Reported but not confirmed.
- In August 2026, The Information reported that SoftBank is in talks to acquire a majority stake in 1X at a valuation of approximately $6 billion. Also reported but not confirmed — and notably below the reported fundraise target.
Those two reports imply very different prices for the same shares. That gap is the single most important fact about 1X secondaries right now.
Can you buy 1X stock?
Not on any exchange — 1X is private, with no ticker. Accredited investors get exposure through:
- Direct secondary purchases — buying outstanding shares from an existing shareholder, subject to company transfer restrictions and rights of first refusal.
- Special purpose vehicles (SPVs) — pooled vehicles holding 1X shares at smaller minimums than a direct block requires.
There is no meaningful public-proxy route; OpenAI (a key backer) is itself private.
What the valuation reports mean for buyers
When the reported fundraise target ($10 billion+) and reported acquisition talks (~$6 billion) sit that far apart, secondary pricing becomes a negotiation about which number you believe. A few honest observations:
- A majority acquisition at ~$6 billion, if it happened, would set a hard reference price — and holders who bought secondaries above it would be underwater regardless of NEO’s long-term success.
- Acquisitions of venture-backed companies pay out through the waterfall; preference stacks can make common shares worth meaningfully less than headline valuation math implies.
- Conversely, if the SoftBank talks collapse and a $10 billion round closes, today’s asks look cheap in hindsight.
This is a name where the entry price matters more than usual, and where “reported but not confirmed” is doing heavy lifting in every direction.
How access actually works
1X secondaries trade through brokers and SPV syndicators, typically with minimums from $100,000 upward. Because the company is private, expect:
- Transfer restrictions. 1X can block or delay transfers; many trades settle through existing SPVs.
- Wide bid-ask. The conflicting valuation reports produce genuinely divergent pricing between sellers.
- Information asymmetry. Delivery timelines, autonomy progress (early demos relied heavily on teleoperation), and deal talks are all partially opaque; work with intermediaries who disclose what is and isn’t confirmable.
At the time of writing, we have visibility into live 1X secondary supply, including allocations accepting indications from accredited investors. Terms, pricing, and structure are available on request to qualified investors.
Is 1X worth the risk?
The bull case: the only credible consumer-first humanoid player, OpenAI backing, a real factory, published pricing with reported five-figure pre-orders, and an enterprise deployment channel through EQT. The bear case: autonomy that still leans on teleoperation, delivery timelines that have slipped, competitors (Figure at a reported $39 billion, Tesla) with vastly more capital, an unresolved and conflicting valuation picture, and the standard private-market risks — illiquidity, limited information, and no committed exit.
This is a concentrated, illiquid, information-poor bet sized for the portion of a portfolio that can go to zero — every pre-IPO position is, and 1X more than most right now.