RobCo receives 100 million dollars for physical AI

Physical AI Munich-Based Startup RobCo Receives $100 Million

2026-02-02 From Manuel Christa | Translated by AI 2 min Reading Time

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The robotics company secures fresh capital. The founders are driving their expansion forward with 100 million US dollars. They see a large market for "Physical AI" in the USA.

RobCo's robots consist of flexibly combinable hardware modules and use AI software for learning.(Image: RobCo) — RobCo's robots consist of flexibly combinable hardware modules and use AI software for learning.
(Image: RobCo)

RobCo receives 100 million US dollars from investors for its further business development. The capital comes from a rather colorful alliance: In the Series C financing round, classic venture capitalists from Silicon Valley meet the investment arms of large European automotive dynasties. US tech investors are Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital. Lingotto Innovation is the investment company of the Agnelli family, which is behind Fiat. Leitmotif, the venture capital offshoot of Volkswagen, is also involved. This mix of start-up expertise and industrial automotive network should pave the way to global markets for the company founded in 2020.

The fresh money will primarily flow into two channels: the further technical development of the robots towards greater autonomy and geographical expansion. CEO and founder Roman Hölzl wants to use the fresh capital to develop RobCo "into the leading provider of AI-supported robotics for industrial production in the USA and Europe."

"Physical AI": Learning by Doing

RobCo's technology is based on a modular architecture. Users can flexibly assemble the hardware components and thus adapt them to different work steps. The decisive lever lies in the software: the company is pursuing the concept of "physical AI". By this, experts mean AI systems that not only process data, but also act and learn directly in the physical world. In practice, this means moving away from rigid programming.

The robots learn their tasks by humans demonstrating them or through independent training. This should drastically reduce the barriers to commissioning and allow them to be used in environments in which products or processes change frequently. Analyst firm Gartner identifies this form of physical AI as the defining technology trend for 2026.

In Use at BMW USA

Operationally, RobCo is focusing on the US market. The German company has maintained sites in San Francisco and Austin since 2025. The USA is currently regarded as a particularly attractive field for automation technology, driven by an acute shortage of skilled workers and the trend towards bringing production capacities back home (reshoring).

Customers such as BMW, T-Systems and the Fabricated Extrusion Company are already using the systems. Industry is emphasizing the need for autonomous systems. Morgan Samet, Co-Head of Lingotto Innovation, explains the Agnelli holding company's entry as follows: "RobCo stands out because the company integrates physical AI directly into real production environments, combining tried-and-tested implementations with a clear, step-by-step path to greater autonomy."

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