Munich-based Agile Robots has raised €450 million ($500 million) in a late-stage funding round led by SoftBank Group, valuing the industrial robotics maker at $8.5 billion, Dealroom reported on Thursday, citing the New York Times. Nvidia, Hitachi and T. Capital also joined the round.

The deal lifts Agile Robots’ total funding since its founding to roughly $2 billion and makes the company one of the most valuable robotics firms in Europe. Founder and chief executive Zhaopeng Chen said the money will fund a push into the United States, new industrial applications and expanded manufacturing in Bavaria.

What was announced

Founded in 2018 as a spinout from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Agile Robots builds systems that combine AI with mechanics, from mobile transport units and sensitive robotic arms to humanoid robots and delicate grippers. The company says more than 20,000 of its automation solutions are already deployed, serving customers in automotive, consumer electronics, healthcare and logistics.

Its flagship product is Agile ONE, a full-size humanoid robot built for factory work. The company also works with Google DeepMind, according to reports of the funding round.

Where the money goes

The new capital is earmarked for three things: entering the US market, developing new industrial applications and expanding production in Bavaria. A new plant in Fürstenfeldbruck near Munich, opened earlier this year, is designed to build up to 10,000 humanoid robots a year. Chen said the firm is also preparing for a possible future IPO.

Agile ONE, Agile Robots' full-size humanoid robot, walking through the company's factory hall

Agile ONE, Agile Robots’ full-size humanoid robot, in the company’s factory hall. Image: Agile Robots.

The US expansion puts Agile Robots into the world’s largest robotics market at a moment when investors are pouring money into so-called physical AI, the combination of AI models with robots that can act in the real world. The company has framed the technology as a way to close Europe’s AI gap with the United States. Chen told the New York Times that physical AI is one solution for Europe to close that gap.

Why it matters

The round rides a clear funding surge in European robotics. Germany’s NEURA Robotics and Sereact have landed large rounds this year, while UK-based Humanoid raised $152 million in July at a $1.35 billion valuation, Dealroom noted. The Agile Robots deal sits in the 99th percentile of late-stage deep tech rounds in Germany over the trailing 48 months, according to Dealroom’s data.

It also comes days after Oregon-based Agility Robotics became the first humanoid-focused company to list in the United States, debuting on Nasdaq on November 5 after a merger that valued it at about $2.5 billion, according to press reports. Investor appetite for humanoids is running hot, but the commercial case is still unproven at scale.

Dealroom struck a cautious note on the sector: “High valuations across the sector reflect big expectations for humanoid and AI-driven robotics that remain unproven at scale.” The key question for Agile Robots, it said, is whether the company can turn demand into durable commercial use and serial production.

Chen is bullish on the direction of travel. “Embodied AI will fundamentally change how the world makes, moves, and produces things,” he said, in remarks translated from German.

Agile Robots funding round in numbers: $500 million raised, $8.5 billion valuation, about $2 billion total funding, 10,000 humanoids a year at the new plant

The round in numbers. Graphic: GPTOnline, based on Dealroom and New York Times reporting.

If the Fürstenfeldbruck plant hits its designed output, Agile Robots would be producing humanoids at a scale few rivals have attempted in Europe. The US push, the IPO groundwork and the Nvidia backing together make this the company’s biggest test yet: turning a well-funded research spinout into a manufacturer that can ship robots in volume.

Sources