Analysis
Agile Robots, the Munich-based maker of humanoid robots and robotic arms, has raised $500 million in a round led by SoftBank that values the company at $8.5 billion, with Nvidia and Hitachi also taking part, Reuters reported on Thursday, November 12, 2026, in a story carried by Global Banking & Finance Review. The company said it would use the money to expand in the US and add production capacity, including in Germany. Trending Topics put the round at about €450 million and the valuation at about €7.6 billion, and listed Deutsche Telekom's T.Capital among the new investors.
What does Agile Robots do?
Agile Robots was founded in 2018 as a spin-off of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) by Zhaopeng Chen and Peter Meusel, according to Multiples.vc; Chen is founder and chief executive. The company sells robot arms, robot hands and grippers, driverless transport systems, complete production cells and its own control platform, plus a humanoid called Agile ONE, Trending Topics reported. Customers are large companies in automotive, consumer electronics, health care and logistics, including an Audi logistics project. By the company's own count it employs more than 3,500 people at more than 25 sites, more than 2,000 of them in development, has installed more than 20,000 automation solutions and holds more than 650 patents. It bought Munich robot-arm maker Franka Robotics and runs a research partnership with Google DeepMind.
The manufacturing plan is what the new money buys. A factory in Fürstenfeldbruck near Munich, opened earlier in 2026, can produce up to 10,000 humanoid robots a year, and Agile Robots plans to make up to 2,000 of its smaller ONE S and ONE SN humanoids next year with Nvidia for research labs and universities, per the Reuters report. It also has production sites in China and India, according to Trending Topics.
“Trending Topics puts total funding at about $2 billion, a figure Pulse could not reconcile round by round from the rounds it verified.”
Agile Robots funding history
Agile Robots became a unicorn in September 2021, when SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a $220 million Series C that valued it at more than $1 billion, Robotics 24/7 reported at the time.
In June 2026, earlier reports described a round of about $800 million, Trending Topics noted; the final close came in at $500 million, and Trending Topics said the reason for the smaller figure is not known. Trending Topics puts total funding at about $2 billion, a figure Pulse could not reconcile round by round from the rounds it verified.
Value Add VC data
- Sep 2021, Series C -- $220M at more than $1B, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (source)
- Apr 2022, Series C-II -- $30M, solely from Foxconn Industrial Internet (source)
- Nov 2026, new round -- $500M at $8.5B, led by SoftBank, with Nvidia and Hitachi (source)
Because the 2021 mark was stated only as more than $1 billion, the new valuation is at most about 8.5 times that unicorn mark. Comparable robotics deals Pulse covered this month:
- Path Robotics -- $300M Series E at $2.45B, led by Georgian (Pulse)
- Agility Robotics -- Nasdaq debut as AGLT via a SPAC at a roughly $2.5B deal valuation, about $465M gross proceeds (Pulse)
Who invested in Agile Robots?
SoftBank Group led the round, with Nvidia, Hitachi and T.Capital participating, and SoftBank Vision Fund and Xiaomi among existing backers, Trending Topics reported. Earlier investors named in the 2021 Series C included Sequoia China, Linear Capital, GL Ventures, Chimera Investments, Xiaomi Group and Foxconn Industrial Internet, per Robotics 24/7. Nvidia's role goes beyond the check: Agile Robots says its humanoid platform is built on Nvidia's robotics models.
Humanoid robot market and competitors
Trending Topics names Neura Robotics, RobCo, Apptronik, Figure, 1X, Tesla's Optimus and Unitree as competitors. Track the field in our humanoid robot race tracker. Agile Robots has not published revenue or earnings, so the $8.5 billion price cannot be checked against sales, a risk worth weighing against the 20,000-installation figure the company cites.
According to The New York Times, as cited by Trending Topics, the round is meant to prepare for a possible IPO, with no timetable set. The comparison Agile Robots will face is Agility Robotics, which reported $1.78 million of 2025 revenue when it listed this month.