The robotics lead at open-source AI company Hugging Face is in talks to raise funding for his own robotics startup, Business Insider has learned.

Remi Cadene’s startup, Uma, is in discussions to raise around $40 million in seed funding, two sources told Business Insider.

There is no public information about Cadene’s Paris-based startup, but one source said it’s working on full-stack robotics for industrial and commercial use cases.

Cadene is a robotics research veteran who has previously worked for Meta and Tesla. During his most recent stint at Tesla, he was a staff scientist working in its humanoid robot and self-driving divisions. He is now a principal research scientist at Hugging Face, which he joined in March 2024.

Four sources confirmed the existence of Uma to Business Insider. There is no reference to Cadene’s startup on his LinkedIn profile or personal website, suggesting the startup is still in stealth mode. Cadene’s “scientific interest lies in understanding the underlying mechanisms of intelligence,” according to his blog.

Details about Uma’s round size and deal are subject to change as the deal has not been finalized yet.

Hugging Face and Cadene did not respond to Business Insider’s requests for comments.

The hype around AI has galvanized investor interest in robotics, with startups globally raising $17.2 billion in 2024. This year, momentum for the technology has been strong, with robotics startups raising over $16 billion in 2025 so far, per PitchBook data.

Notable raises this year include Genesis Robotics’ $110 million seed round and Coco Robotics’ $80 million round.

Hugging Face has also dabbled in the robotics sector, recently launching a desktop robot after acquiring Pollen Robotics in 2025.

Larger AI companies have long been founder factories for executives and researchers. This week, GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke announced that he would be exiting the developer platform to become a startup founder again.