---
title: "Noosphere Labs’ $10.25M: Madrona and Trilogy Back Stealth Physical AI"
description: "Ex-Meta AI research director Kevin Carlberg raised $10.25M for Noosphere Labs — human-centered physical intelligence — led by Trilogy Equity Partners with major Madrona participation."
date: 2026-08-11T00:00:00.000Z
tags: ["2026-vc-news", "startup-funding", "venture-capital", "artificial-intelligence", "robotics", "madrona"]
source: https://venturecapitaltracker.com/2026-noosphere-labs-10-25m-madrona-trilogy-physical-ai
---

# Noosphere Labs’ $10.25M: Madrona and Trilogy Back Stealth Physical AI

> Ex-Meta AI research director Kevin Carlberg raised $10.25M for Noosphere Labs — human-centered physical intelligence — led by Trilogy Equity Partners with major Madrona participation.

**[Trilogy Equity Partners](/fund/trilogy-equity-partners)** led a **$10.25 million** raise for **Noosphere Labs**, with major participation from **[Madrona](/fund/madrona)**, disclosed via **SEC Form D** and reported **August 11, 2026**. Founder/CEO **Kevin Carlberg** (ex–Meta Reality Labs / FAIR; Sandia; Stanford PhD) is still in stealth.

## Key facts

| Field | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| Company | Noosphere Labs (Seattle area; stylized Noösphere) |
| Round | $10.25M (Form D) |
| Date | Filing / GeekWire coverage Aug 10–11, 2026 |
| Lead | Trilogy Equity Partners |
| Major participant | Madrona |
| Status | Stealth — product not publicly detailed |
| Thesis line | “Human-centered physical intelligence” |
| Founder | Kevin Carlberg; director Tyler Simpson (ex–Meta/Microsoft) |

## Who would use the product — and for what job

**Honest gap:** Noosphere has not published a product, customers, or pricing.

**Editorial inference from founder research (not company claims):** Carlberg’s Meta work on **assistive wearable agents** (egocentric video/audio → intent) and Sandia real-time simulation points at users who need AI that understands **what a person is doing in the physical world** — smart glasses, mixed reality, robotics assist — where today’s models still fail practical usefulness tests (his NeurIPS benchmark found best models relevant only ~55% of the time).

**Job hypothesis:** help people act in the world (not only chat on screens) with agents that perceive context continuously.

Until launch, treat buyers as **unknown**.

## Why now

- Physical AI / wearables capital is hot after multi-year Meta and Apple investment in glasses-class devices.
- Screen-native LLMs underperform on egocentric assistance — research gap = startup wedge.
- Pacific Northwest has dense Meta/Microsoft/robotics talent willing to leave for founder-led physical AI.
- Form D timing shows the raise closed even before public narrative — classic stealth seed pattern.

## Why Trilogy + Madrona — portfolio fit

**[Trilogy](/fund/trilogy-equity-partners)** (Bellevue) leading puts a local board close to the team. **[Madrona](/fund/madrona)** major participation adds Seattle multi-stage AI/software muscle (same week Madrona appears across other PNW AI stories).

**Likely founder rationale:** raise from investors who already diligence Northwest deep-tech talent and will not force a premature consumer launch narrative — keep stealth while hardware/ML mature.

| Dimension | Fit |
| --- | --- |
| Stage | Early / seed-scale Form D |
| Thesis | Physical / wearable intelligence |
| Geography | Seattle |
| Risk | Stealth execution; category definition |

## Competitive map (category, not named product)

| Lane | Examples of pressure |
| --- | --- |
| Big Tech wearables AI | Meta, Apple, Google device stacks |
| Robotics foundation models | Physical AI labs and humanoid stacks |
| Screen agents | Chat/coding agents — different modality |
| Academic assistive-agent research | Benchmarks Carlberg co-authored |

## When not to invent a pitch

- Wrong if you fabricate customers or a shipping product.
- Wrong if Form D dollars are treated as a priced Series A with disclosed valuation (valuation not public in GeekWire coverage).
- Wrong if “physical AI” is equated with humanoid robots without evidence.

## Practical takeaway

- **Founders:** Stealth is fine when the Form D + pedigree carry the raise — but ship a crisp job statement before the next round.
- **Investors:** Underwrite founder research edge + PNW hiring, not slides.
- **Scouts:** Watch noospherelabs.ai and Carlberg’s publication trail for the first concrete ICP.

### Sources

1. GeekWire (Aug 11, 2026): https://www.geekwire.com/2026/ex-meta-ai-research-director-raises-10-25m-from-trilogy-and-madrona-for-stealth-physical-ai-startup/
2. SEC Form D: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2149216/000214921626000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml
3. Related: [/2026-august-11-12-investment-news-personal-ai-defense-health](/2026-august-11-12-investment-news-personal-ai-defense-health)