Agile Robots Raises $500 Million at an $8.5 Billion Valuation, With SoftBank, Nvidia and Hitachi Behind Its Humanoids

The Munich robot maker says the money goes to the United States and to more factory capacity in Germany, where its new plant can build up to 10,000 humanoid robots a year.

MUNICH - Agile Robots, the German maker of humanoids, robot arms and robotic hands, has raised $500 million in a Series F round that values the company at $8.5 billion. The company announced on Thursday that SoftBank Group led the round, with Nvidia, Hitachi and its venture arm Hitachi Ventures, and T.Capital among the other investors. The round brings its total invested capital to $2 billion.

It is a big step up. SoftBank also led the company’s 2021 Series C, a $220 million round that valued Agile Robots at about $1 billion, according to Humanoids Daily. The same outlet noted that Bloomberg had reported in June that SoftBank was discussing a round of about $800 million. The deal that closed is smaller, at a much higher price than the last one.

Robot arms at work in an Agile Robots facility, from the company’s funding announcement video.

Image: Agile Robots

The pitch is what the company calls physical AI. “Physical AI will fundamentally change how the world builds, moves and makes things,” founder and chief executive Zhaopeng Chen said in the announcement. “Our vision is intelligent robots working alongside people in factories and warehouses everywhere, and Agile Robots is determined to lead that shift.” He said the money “allows us to accelerate our global expansion, strengthen our presence in key markets and build out production capacity.”

The spending plan has two parts. Agile Robots wants a stronger presence in the United States and faster development of new robot applications. It also plans to keep adding manufacturing in Germany. Earlier this year it opened a production site in Fuerstenfeldbruck, near Munich, which it says can build up to 10,000 legged and wheeled humanoid robots a year. That is a capacity figure. The company has not said how many humanoids it has shipped.

Robotic fingers picking screws from a bin, in Agile Robots’ funding announcement video.

Image: Agile Robots

Several of the investors are also partners. Hitachi signed a physical AI partnership with Agile Robots in September covering its Agile ONE humanoid, robot arms and mobile robots, Humanoids Daily reported. At Nvidia’s GTC Berlin in October, Agile Robots launched Agile ONE SN, a 1.4-meter research humanoid built around Nvidia’s Jetson Thor computer. “We believe Physical AI will transform industries,” said Dennis Chang, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers. “Agile Robots combines deep robotics expertise with the ability to execute at industrial scale, enabling it to bring Physical AI into everyday operations.”

Humanoids are the headline, but they are not yet the business. Agile Robots was founded in 2018 as a spin-off from the German Aerospace Center, known as DLR, and says it has installed more than 20,000 robotic systems for customers in automotive, consumer electronics, logistics and other industries. It reports more than 3,500 employees from almost 60 countries, over 2,000 research and development staff, and more than 650 patents. Its subsidiaries include the research-arm maker Franka Robotics and Krause Automation, which it acquired from thyssenkrupp.

Zhaopeng Chen in Agile Robots’ funding announcement video, with an Agile ONE humanoid behind him.

Image: Agile Robots

The company does not publish revenue. In the video released with the announcement, Chen spoke of “machines that perceive, understand, and act.” The valuation now asks investors to believe those machines will move from pilots to production lines, and that the plant near Munich will have plenty to build.