Agile Robots raises $500m in SoftBank-led round at $8.5bn

Agile Robots raises $500m in SoftBank-led round at $8.5bn

12 November 2026: Agile Robots, the Munich company that builds humanoid and mobile robots, robot arms and hands and the AI models that run them, says it has closed a $500 million Series F at a valuation of $8.5 billion. SoftBank Group led the round, and the company says it lifts the total capital invested in it to $2 billion.

Not yet independently verified. The company's page carries 10 November in its header and 12 November in its dateline; we use the dateline. The amount and valuation rest on the company's release alone. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

SoftBank, NVIDIA and Hitachi in the round

The company names NVIDIA, Hitachi Group (Hitachi and Hitachi Ventures) and T.Capital among the other investors, "among others", spanning the automotive, AI, digital and industrial technology sectors. It does not give the split between them.

Dennis Chang, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, said: "We believe Physical AI will transform industries." He added that Agile Robots combines deep robotics expertise "with the ability to execute at industrial scale".

The money goes to three things the company lists: a stronger presence in the United States, more production capacity, including in Germany, and entry into new markets.

From DLR lab to 10,000 humanoids a year

Agile Robots was founded in 2018 as a spin-off from the German Aerospace Center (DLR). It says it has since deployed more than 20,000 industrial robotic solutions for customers in automotive, consumer electronics, logistics, healthcare and service, and that it employs more than 3,500 people from almost 60 countries, over 2,000 of them in research and development, with more than 650 patents filed.

Early in 2026 it opened a production site at Fürstenfeldbruck, near Munich, which it says can build up to 10,000 legged and wheeled humanoid robots a year. It makes its hardware in-house.

Its group now includes Franka Robotics, the research robot arm maker, Krause Automation, which it recently bought from thyssenkrupp, and B&R Automation and Idealworks, which the release lists among its subsidiaries.

Founder and chief executive Zhaopeng Chen said the round would let the company "accelerate our global expansion, strengthen our presence in key markets and build out production capacity". He described the goal as "intelligent robots working alongside people in factories and warehouses everywhere".

Where it sits among robot makers

Agile Robots sells to the same factory buyers as the large arm makers, but pitches itself on dexterity: tasks that until now needed a human hand and judgment. The release does not name customers, give revenue, or say how many of the 20,000 installations are humanoids rather than arms and cells.

Our robot manufacturer category lists 63 companies, among them Agile Robots itself and its subsidiary Franka Robotics, alongside KUKA, FANUC, Universal Robots and NEURA Mobile Robots.

Sources

• Agile Robots: Physical AI leader Agile Robots raises $500 million Series F funding, 12 November 2026
• heise online: Münchner Start-up Agile Robots erhält 500 Millionen Dollar, 12 November 2026