$40 million share sale lifts the industrial-automation startup past $1 billion, and its CEO is moving to the US.
MUNICH, Oct. 5, 2026. Munich-based robotics company RobCo has passed a $1 billion valuation, making it a unicorn. The company said the valuation has doubled in nine months. In January, its $100 million Series C round valued it at roughly $500 million.
The latest deal is a transaction that, according to the company, pairs new investment with a secondary sale of employee shares. Reports put the secondary portion at more than $40 million. In a secondary sale, existing shareholders sell stock to buyers, so most of the money goes to the sellers rather than to the company. RobCo has not said how much new capital it raised.
Existing backers Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Greenfield Partners, Kindred Capital, Lingotto Innovation and Promus Ventures are reported to be part of the deal. Leitmotif, an investment firm funded by Volkswagen, also took part. Cherry Ventures and the European Tech Collective, a fund backed by founders of successful European tech companies, are new investors.
“A special moment” for employees
CEO and co-founder Roman Hölzl said the deal let people who built the company realize part of the value they created. He said investor demand was strong and the company used it to strengthen its position. He called the valuation a milestone but said he is “much more excited about what comes next”: bringing autonomous industrial robotics to factory floors.
Focus on the US and a new robot
The United States is RobCo’s fastest-growing market, with customers in more than a dozen states. The company, founded in 2020 by Hölzl, Paul Maroldt and Constantin Dresel, also has offices in Austin and a lab in the San Francisco Bay Area. Reuters reports that Hölzl is relocating to the US as part of this push.
RobCo is also preparing to commercialize Alfie, an autonomous industrial robot. The company says it combines perception, reasoning and execution to handle varied, unstructured tasks. It sells through a robotics-as-a-service model with no upfront investment, aiming to help manufacturers automate manual work while limiting complexity and risk.
A hot sector
The deal comes as money pours into “physical AI,” which pairs AI software with hardware. Neura Robotics of Metzingen, for example, reportedly raised up to $1.4 billion in June. RobCo’s rise has been quick: its 2024 Series B of about $42.5 million, led by Lightspeed, came from a company that began with modular robot kits for small and mid-sized factories.
A valuation set by a secondary sale is a price investors were willing to pay, not a cash balance. The company still has to show that demand for its robots can keep up with it.