Brett Adcock. Brett Adcock (born  April 6, 1986) is an American technology entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Figure AI, an AI startup working on a general-purpose humanoid robot. In 2018, Adcock founded Archer Aviation, five years after he started Vettery. In 2023, he established Cover. As of June 2024, Forbes estimates his net worth to be US$1.4 billion.

Early life and education
Adcock was raised on his family's farm outside Moweaqua, Illinois. At the age of sixteen, Adcock began working on web companies, which included an e-commerce site focused on outdoor electronics and a content site called Street of Walls. He subsequently graduated as the valedictorian of Central A&M High School.

Initially majoring in engineering, Adcock then studied at the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 2008.

Career
In 2013, Adcock founded Vettery (which later became known as Hired), a talent marketplace that matched job seekers with employers who needed technical expertise. In 2018, the Adecco Group bought Vettery for $100 million. The same year, Adcock started eVTOL company Archer Aviation. In 2022 he founded Figure, an AI startup based in Sunnyvale that is working on a general-purpose humanoid robot. Adcock assembled Figure's team from people working at Boston Dynamics, Tesla, Google DeepMind and Apple. Adcock opines that the creation of humanoid robots will mitigate labor shortages.

Vettery 
In 2013, Brett Adcock founded the online recruiting marketplace Vettery. Vettery came out of stealth in 2015 and its clients included Jet, Casper, Etsy, Blue Apron and Percolate. Vettery was started out of NYU's Varick Street Incubator. As of 2017, Vettery has raised $12 million in venture backed funding led by Greycroft Investors, Raine Ventures, and Pritzker Venture Capital. In February 2018, The Adecco Group acquired Vettery to use their technology in advancement of digital strategy.

Archer Aviation 
In October 2018, Adcock founded electric aircraft company Archer Aviation. Archer was originally started with a research grant from Adcock at the University of Florida and ultimately headquartered in Palo Alto, California. In February 2021, United Airlines made an initial purchase of Archer aircraft with the intent of using them to provide urban service to airports. Archer went public on the New York Stock Exchange with investors including United Airlines, Stellantis, Exor, Baron Capital, Marc Lore, and Brett Adcock.

Figure 
In May 2022, Adcock founded AI robotics company Figure. Figure is building a humanoid robot that can do autonomous human-like tasks. In February 2024, Figure secured $675 million in venture capital funding from a consortium that included OpenAI, Microsoft, Jeff Bezos,  Nvidia, and Intel. In August 2024, Figure revealed their second generation humanoid robot Figure 02. In the same month, Figure had a successful deployment of their humanoid robots at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg.

Cover 
In October 2023, Adcock founded AI security company Cover to prevent school shootings in the United States. Cover uses licensed technology from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA.

Personal life
Brett Adcock resides in Palo Alto, California, with his wife and three children. Adcock has a penchant for the Robot series authored by Isaac Asimov—novels that influenced his career.

Honors 
He was included in the Time 2024 list of influential people in AI.

References

Living people
21st-century American businesspeople
American technology company founders
American technology businesspeople
American technology executives
American technology chief executives
1986 births
University of Florida alumni
Businesspeople from Palo Alto, California
People from Christian County, Illinois