SoftBank Leads $500 Million Round for German Robotics Firm Agile Robots

What changed

SoftBank has led a $500 million Series F funding round for Agile Robots, valuing the German industrial-robotics company at $8.5 billion. Nvidia, Hitachi and T Capital also joined the round.

Agile says it will use the money to expand in the United States and increase production. The company has raised about $2 billion since its 2018 founding as a spin-off from the German Aerospace Centre.

Why it matters

This is a bet on robots doing ordinary factory work, not just performing impressive demonstrations. Agile makes robotic arms, hands, autonomous mobile robots and humanoid machines, alongside the software and AI models that control them. Its stated jobs include assembling products, handling components, inspecting equipment and moving materials.

The scale of the funding suggests Agile is trying to move from building capable systems to deploying them across industrial settings. Its customers span automotive, consumer electronics, healthcare and services, while its workforce includes more than 2,000 research and development specialists and its portfolio includes over 650 patents.

The most concrete test will be production. Agile says its Munich factory can produce up to 10,000 legged and wheeled humanoid robots a year, but the report provides no production timetable and does not establish whether that capacity is already operating. If the company can turn that stated capacity into reliable deliveries, the financing could accelerate its expansion beyond the lab and into factories and warehouses.