Rémi Cadène, a former engineer on Tesla's Optimus program, has unveiled Northstar, the debut humanoid robot from his Paris startup UMA. Backed by a $40 million seed round and talks with roughly 50 potential customers, UMA is betting Europe, not the US, is where practical humanoid robots get built first. On July 7, at the Machina Summit inside Station F in Paris, Cadène showed Northstar, which will target European customers first. UMA emerged from stealth on December 1, 2025, with a $40 million seed round backed by Greycroft, Relentless and Unity Growth. Co-founders include Pierre Sermanet, Simon Alibert, and Robert Knight. The initial focus is industrial and logistics work, with pilot programs planned in manufacturing and logistics, and in healthcare later in 2026.