Agile Robots has raised $500 million in a funding round led by SoftBank Group, valuing the Munich-based maker of industrial and humanoid robots at $8.5 billion. Nvidia and Hitachi also joined the round, which the company announced on Thursday and which makes Agile Robots the most valuable robotics startup in Europe, ahead of Neura Robotics.
The round is worth about €450 million, with the valuation near €7.6 billion. Deutsche Telekom's investment company, T.Capital, is also among the backers, and Hitachi participated through its investment arm. The size of SoftBank's own contribution was not disclosed. The new money brings Agile Robots' total funding since its founding to roughly $2 billion.
Agile Robots plans to spend the capital on expanding in the United States, building out new industrial applications and adding manufacturing capacity in Germany and abroad. The centerpiece of that production push is a plant in Fürstenfeldbruck, near Munich, which opened early in 2026 and is designed to turn out up to 10,000 humanoid robots a year.
Key facts
- 01Agile Robots raised $500M at an $8.5B valuation in a round led by SoftBank Group.
- 02Nvidia, Hitachi and Deutsche Telekom's T.Capital also invested, bringing total funding to about $2B.
- 03Its Fürstenfeldbruck plant near Munich, opened in early 2026, is built to make up to 10,000 humanoid robots a year.
- 04Founded in 2018 as a DLR spinoff, the company reports 3,500+ employees and 20,000+ installed automation solutions.
- 05A round of about $800M had been discussed in June 2026 before the raise closed at $500M.
The financing is also meant to prepare the company for a possible initial public offering. No timetable for a listing has been given.
Agile Robots was founded in 2018 as a spinoff of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen. Founder and CEO Zhaopeng Chen previously worked at DLR on sensitive robot hands. Today the company sells robot arms, robot hands and grippers, driverless transport systems and complete production cells, all running on its own control platform, along with its humanoid robot, Agile ONE.
By the company's own figures, Agile Robots employs more than 3,500 people, more than 2,000 of them developers, across more than 25 sites. It says it has installed more than 20,000 automation solutions and holds more than 650 patents, with customers in automotive, consumer electronics, health care and logistics. It manufactures in Germany, China and India. Revenue has not been disclosed.
The company has been building out its AI stack through partnerships. It has had a research partnership with Google DeepMind since spring 2026, and in October it introduced a humanoid platform based on Nvidia's robotics models, alongside a logistics project with Audi. Agile Robots has also acquired Munich-based Franka Robotics.
SoftBank's relationship with Agile Robots goes back to 2021, when it led a $220 million Series C that made the company a unicorn. Xiaomi is among its earlier investors. The new round fits a broader robotics push at SoftBank, which agreed in 2025 to buy ABB's robotics division for $5.4 billion and holds a large stake in Skild AI.
The final figure came in below earlier talks. A round of about $800 million had been discussed in June 2026, and the reason the raise settled at $500 million has not been made public.
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