Peppy raises pre-seed to build prompt-based robotics coding platform

Peppy closed a pre-seed round led by Element Ventures to accelerate a platform that turns text prompts into working robotic code for simulation and real-world tasks. The Salt Lake City startup says the funding will help it expand its team, deepen its skills stack and push toward a more accessible Physical AI ecosystem.

Why it matters: - Peppy is trying to make robotics faster to prototype and easier to access. - The company’s approach could lower barriers for creators, researchers and developers building physical AI applications. - Peppy is also aiming at a broader platform strategy that could support an app marketplace for robotics.

What happened: - Peppy closed a pre-seed funding round. - Element Ventures led the round. - Rock Creek Capital, LLC, Mana Ventures and Yonder also participated. - Peppy is based in Salt Lake City, Utah. - The company says the new capital will accelerate development of its prompt-based robotics coding platform.

The details: - The platform lets users enter text prompts and receive robotic code that can run in simulation and in real-world environments. - Peppy describes the product as a “Lovable for Robotics” and a fast-prototyping tool for physical AI. - Founder and CEO Daniel Lambert said the company’s near-term vision is to build a seamless prompt-to-execution bridge for the physical world. - Colin Gardiner, founding partner of Yonder, said the firm sees a need for standardization in robotics that could support an app marketplace on top of the foundation. - Peppy is issuing an open call to collaborate with developers and teams building robotic intelligence or specialized robotics point solutions. - Peppy is actively recruiting engineering talent focused on Vision-Language-Action models. - The company says VLA expertise is important for bridging multimodal reasoning with real-time physical control. - For more information on roles, partnerships or the platform, Peppy directs interest to peppy.bot or dan@peppy.bot.

Between the lines: - The funding signals investor interest in tools that abstract away some of the complexity of robotics development. - Peppy is positioning itself less as a single application and more as a foundational layer for building robotic skills and products. - The company’s hiring push suggests the platform is still early and needs more core technical depth before broader rollout.

What's next: - Peppy plans to expand its ecosystem and core team. - The company will keep recruiting VLA engineers and other technical talent. - Peppy is seeking partnerships with outside developers and robotics teams to broaden the platform’s capabilities. - The company’s next phase appears focused on proving that prompt-based development can translate into useful robotic behavior across both simulated and physical settings.

The bottom line: - Peppy wants to turn robotics coding into a prompt-driven workflow and use its new funding to build the infrastructure around that bet.