FORT Robotics is taking Philly’s growing robotics momentum to Wall Street.

The startup, which makes safety tech for robots and autonomous machines, announced plans to go public today at a $556 million valuation. Instead of a traditional IPO, FORT plans to combine with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Newbury Street II Acquisition Corp, already listed on the Nasdaq.

Once the two companies come together, the business will be known as FORT Robotics Holdings and is expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol FROB. The deal will support the company’s continued product development.

“FORT’s mission is to ‘ensure robots cause no harm’,” founder and CEO Samuel Reeves said in a press release. “We are dedicated to pioneering and building a shared framework for trust that robot manufacturers, integrators, end users, regulators, insurers, governments and any other interested party can rely on.” 

SPACs are an alternate route to the public markets, in which a private company combines with an already-public shell company. A startup may go that route because it can offer a faster and more predictable way to reach the public markets than a traditional IPO.

FORT did not immediately respond to Technical.ly’s request for comment.

Founded in 2018, the startup spun out of Humanistic Robotics, which made safety devices for landmines. 

Since then, FORT has grown its robotics safety systems and raised multiple larger funding rounds, including a $13 million Series A backed in part by Mark Cuban and a $25 million Series B. Last summer, it added almost $19 million to that funding round to support expansion of its platform. 

Earlier this year, FORT acquired Pittsburgh-based autonomous vehicle software startup Mapless AI, adding Mapless’ remote teleoperation capabilities to its safety system, the Trust Platform. 

FORT’s news marks the second Philly robotics company that announced plans to go public this year. Penn spin-out Exyn Technologies, which builds software to help drones and other robots move through difficult spaces on their own, announced plans to IPO in May.