Can You Invest in Boston Dynamics?
Boston Dynamics is at the cutting edge of robotics technology.
If you've seen a video of a robot carrying a worker's tools, cleaning a house, doing parkour, or pulling a wagon, chances are that it was designed by Boston Dynamics.
The company is pairing robotics with AI, two industries with massive growth potential and an almost unlimited number of real-life applications.
The opportunity for early investors is obvious.
However, since Boston Dynamics is not a public company, you may wonder how you can invest in Boston Dynamics stock right now.
Can you buy Boston Dynamics stock?
Boston Dynamics is a private company, which means there is no Boston Dynamics stock symbol or stock price.
Hyundai Motor Company purchased 80% of Boston Dynamics from SoftBank in 2021 at a valuation of $1.1 billion. This acquisition has allowed Hyundai to expand its mobility solutions business, its second largest business segment (behind automobiles).
SoftBank, through one of its affiliates, owns the remaining 20%.
For Boston Dynamics, this deal has allowed it to focus on the production of its hardware and software after nearly three decades of research.
Despite being a privately held company with no plans to IPO in the near future, there is a way for you to gain exposure to Boston Dynamics.
How to invest in Boston Dynamics
While you can't directly purchase shares of Boston Dynamics, there are a couple of ways to gain exposure to its business or other players in the robotics industry.
Buy Hyundai stock
Yes, you could buy Hyundai (HYMTF) stock to gain exposure to Boston Dynamics.
As mentioned above, Hyundai owns 80% of Boston Dynamics, so any significant growth in its business will result in a higher valuation being placed on shares of Hyundai.
Hyundai is currently a $43.5 billion company. Assuming a valuation of $2.5 billion for Boston Dynamics, Hyundai's stake likely makes up 5.7% of its total business value.
If Boston Dynamics can commercialize its products and start turning a profit, the business could easily grow to be worth $25 billion or more and dramatically increase the value of Hyundai stock.
Buy SoftBank stock
Similar to Hyundai, you could invest in SoftBank Group (SFTBY) to get indirect exposure to Boston Dynamics.
SoftBank's market capitalization is $83.5 billion as of the time of writing. If we again assume a $2.5 billion valuation for Boston Dynamics, SoftBank's stake in it equates to 2.9% of its total business.
Unlike Hyundai, it would be extremely difficult for Boston Dynamics to have a large impact on SoftBank's stock price unless it were to 25x, 50x, or 100x.
Still, if you're interested in owning the rest of SoftBank's investment portfolio, investing in its stock would give you some exposure to Boston Dynamics.
Are there other robotics stocks to buy?
If your interest is in robotics companies, here are four publicly traded companies for you to consider:
- Rockwell Automation (ROK): Rockwell Automation is a leader in industrial automation and helps thousands of companies scale their manufacturing with software and robots.
- iRobot (IRBT): iRobot builds household robots. Its most popular product is the Roomba, an autonomous vacuum.
- NVIDIA (NVDA): NVIDIA is the leader in many hardware components used in AI-related applications.
- Tesla (TSLA): Tesla not only heavily uses robotics in the manufacturing and assembling of its cars, but it's also building its own robots similar to those being built by Boston Dynamics. Additionally, one of the company's primary missions is to “develop and deploy autonomy at scale in vehicles, robots, and more.”
For a more diversified approach to investing in robots, you may be interested in these two ETFs:
- ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ): The ARKQ ETF invests in companies identified as benefiting from automation and other technological advancements.
- Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ): The BOTZ ETF invests in companies involved in the development and production of robots or AI.
Who owns Boston Dynamics stock?
Boston Dynamics was founded in 1992 by Marc Raibert, who was a professor at MIT.
Initial funding primarily came from the U.S. military and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the government's R&D arm.
Then, in 2014, the startup was acquired by Alphabet (GOOGL), Google's parent company, for an undisclosed amount. Three years later, in June 2017, SoftBank bought the company from Alphabet.
In June 2021, Hyundai purchased 80% of the company from SoftBank at a valuation of $1.1 billion. SoftBank retained the remaining 20%.
Other than these two investors, early employees and executives likely own some equity in the company, though there is no information about ownership splits.
How to buy the Boston Dynamics IPO
There have been no plans announced for a Boston Dynamics IPO.
As the controlling owner, Hyundai may decide to spin Boston Dynamics off at a later date, if the business begins generating more revenue and becomes more valuable.
If Hyundai decides to list it, you'll be able to look up its stock symbol and buy it in your brokerage account. If you don't have a brokerage account, we recommend Public.
On Public, you can Invest in stocks, ETFs, Treasuries, and cryptocurrencies, all on one of the most well-designed investing platforms.
Boston Dynamics valuation
Even though it was founded more than 31 years ago, the only publicly available information about Boston Dynamics' valuation is the Hyundai/SoftBank acquisition in June 2021, which valued the company at $1.1 billion.
There have been no valuation updates provided by either Hyundai or SoftBank.
.png)
