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Australian-founded artificial intelligence company Breaker has secured $2 million in pre-seed funding to scale its AI agents and develop mass autonomy in robotics.
The pre-seed funding round was led by Australian deep tech investment fund Main Sequence and Breaker is expected to triple its team over the next six months to further expand its footprint in the US to meet growing demand.
The company is expected to develop AI-powered software designed to enable robots to act, adapt and communicate like humans.
“True autonomy isn’t just about building better individual robots, but about making them work together—and work seamlessly with humans. We believe that the future of robotics isn’t more hardware, it is smarter software that enables machines to collaborate and adapt dynamically, just like people do,” according to Breaker’s co-founder and co-CEO Matthew Buffa.
“Autonomous systems in defence often fall short—frontline operators still micromanage robots, making them more of a liability than an asset.
“Meanwhile, Australia’s defence forces face a different challenge: smaller-scale operations and limited resources.
“Autonomy must be trusted, adaptable and seamlessly integrated into human teams. By advancing AI-driven collaboration, we’re shaping the future of human-machine teaming.”
Its technology allows a single operator to control up to 100 systems, empowering real-time, context-aware decision-making. With next-generation autonomy, natural language communication and advanced teaming, Breaker delivers a resilient and intuitive human-machine interface - according to the company.
Alongside the funding, Breaker has announced strategic industry partnerships to advance its AI capabilities and autonomous technology. The company is collaborating with US-based SensorOps to use synthetic data and SensorOps’ simulation platform to enhance autonomous defence applications. Breaker is also working with Airvolute to integrate its AI agent into advanced drone platforms, boosting autonomy in tactical operations. Additionally, Breaker has partnered with the Australian Institute of Machine Learning (AIML) to drive AI research breakthroughs in intelligent and adaptive robotics.
By embedding AI agents directly on-device, Breaker’s first-of-its-kind platform is designed to eliminate reliance on external servers, ensuring robots remain reliable, responsive and resilient even in disconnected, high-risk environments.
The company has already opened its US office in Austin and is working with US defence customers to deliver autonomy where it's needed. Beyond defence, the company will scale its technology across industries like critical infrastructure security, search and rescue, farming and mining—sectors where synchronous decision-making is critical.
“Today’s ‘autonomous’ systems still rely on bulky equipment, hard coded instructions and skilled operators, limiting their scalability, adaptability and ROI,” according to Mike Zimmerman, Partner at Main Sequence.
“By combining generative AI with robotics, Breaker adds a step change in intelligence to these systems and delivers enormous advantages in utility while democratising access to these systems. We see this 'Physical AI' as the next wave of what’s possible for autonomy.”
