Gravis Robotics Raises $200M Series A Led by SoftBank
Gravis Robotics, an ETH Zurich spinout developing software to autonomize excavators and diggers, has secured a $200 million Series A investment led by SoftBank. This marks the largest Series A round in construction robotics history, according to the company.
The deal confirms previous reports suggesting that Masayoshi Son’s conglomerate was interested in investing in the young company.
Headquartered in Zurich with offices in Austin and Oxford, Gravis does not build machines but rather creates "retrofit control kits" called Gravis Racks and an assistance layer, Gravis Copilot. These technologies transform existing diggers into autonomous or semi-autonomous machines, operating across multiple brands like Caterpillar, John Deere, Volvo, JCB, Hitachi, and more.
Gravis distinguishes itself by emphasizing its simulations to bridge the "sim-to-real" gap, enabling excavators to work with precision on unpredictable construction sites. They claim productivity gains of up to 30% over manual operations, deployments across four continents, and participation in a UK government-backed autonomy project with Flannery.
For SoftBank, this investment aligns with its strategy to build a diverse robotics and AI portfolio, as Son believes "physical AI" represents the next significant growth area.
Construction robotics presents an attractive opportunity due to the industry’s size, skills shortage, safety concerns driving automation adoption, and the potential for retrofitting existing machinery.
While Gravis celebrates its funding success and ambitious goals, it faces challenges like demonstrating robust safety, navigating liability and regulatory issues, and competing in a market that has promised full autonomy for years without fully achieving it yet. Nonetheless, the direction is clear: autonomous heavy machinery is coming, and investors are betting on Gravis to be a key player.