Agile Robots SE, a German developer of AI-driven robotics, said it raised $500 million in a late-stage round that values the company at $8.5 billion. SoftBank led the Series F financing, which also drew participation from Nvidia Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and T Capital. The new capital brings Agile Robots' total funding to $2 billion, according to the company.
The startup was founded in 2018 as a spinoff of the German Aerospace Center and has become one of Europe's leaders in humanoid and mobile robots, robotic arms and dexterous hands, along with the AI models that control them. Its systems pair robotic hardware with sensing, computer vision and AI software to automate physical labor. Force-sensitive manipulation sits at the core of the technology, letting robots regulate how firmly they grip delicate parts, carry out precision assembly and adjust to changing conditions.
Founder and Chief Executive Dr. Zhaopeng Chen said the company's goal is for intelligent robots to work alongside people in factories and warehouses around the world, and that Agile Robots intends to lead the shift he described as physical AI changing how the world builds, moves and makes things.
The company's flagship arm, Diana 7, is designed for precise manipulation and assembly and carries torque sensors on all seven of its axes, enabling it to gauge and respond to the force needed to grasp, lift and manipulate objects. Agile One, its humanoid robot, was publicly unveiled in November 2025 as an industrial-first platform with dexterous hands, advanced perception and human collaborative capabilities for work alongside people in manufacturing and logistics.
Agile Robots now offers a family of Agile One human-shaped robots. The Agile One S is a compact humanoid reference platform for research labs, universities and developers. The Agile One SN ships with Dual Wuji five-finger hands and is preconfigured for Nvidia Corp.'s Isaac GR00T AI models, which serve as robot "brains" and are meant to let industry developers train, evaluate, deploy and test new robotic skills quickly.
Chen said the company brings physical AI out of the lab and into industrial production across logistics, automotive, electronics and manufacturing. The funding is intended to support expansion into the United States, additional engineering hires and faster development of intelligent robotics applications. Agile Robots also plans to expand production, including in Germany, where it opened a facility in Fürstenfeldbruck, near Munich, in early 2026; the site can produce up to 10,000 legged and wheeled humanoid robots a year.
The company has deployed roughly 20,000 industrial robotic solutions for customers in automotive, consumer electronics, logistics and other industries. Its subsidiaries include BÄR Automation, Franka Robotics, Idealworks and Krause Automation, which respectively supply manipulation technology, mobile robots and coordination software, and build and integrate interaction capabilities. Agile Robots faces international competition from established automation suppliers including Universal Robots A/S, ABB Ltd., FANUC Corp. and Yaskawa Electric Corp., while its Agile One humanoid competes with offerings from Figure AI Inc., Apptronik Inc. and Agility Robotics Inc.
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