Physical AI startup Hakimo raises $12 million in fresh funding

Hakimo, a startup focused on physical AI for security and surveillance applications, has raised $12 million in fresh funding, according to a report by Entrackr published on Thursday.

Physical AI — a term gaining currency in the technology industry — refers to artificial intelligence systems designed to operate in and interpret the real, physical world rather than purely digital environments. For Hakimo, that translates to AI-powered monitoring tools that can watch over physical spaces, identify unusual activity, and trigger automated or human-assisted responses, effectively making security infrastructure smarter and less dependent on large teams of human operators.

The $12 million raise comes at a time when venture capital interest in applied AI — particularly AI with tangible, real-world use cases — has remained strong even as broader startup funding has tightened. Security, surveillance, and physical infrastructure represent a large and underdigitised market in India and globally, and AI systems that can credibly replace or augment human monitoring are seen as having strong commercial potential.

Hakimo's funding will likely be watched by others operating at the intersection of AI and physical security in India, a market that spans everything from corporate campuses and warehouses to public transport systems. The raise adds to a growing body of evidence that investors are moving beyond software-only AI plays and backing companies whose products exist in the world as much as on a screen.