FundingRounds, leads & terms
SoftBank leads $500m Series F in Agile Robots at $8.5bn valuation
Munich-based Agile Robots raised a $500m Series F led by SoftBank at an $8.5bn valuation, with Nvidia, Hitachi and T.Capital joining. The money targets US expansion and humanoid production, though the company has not disclosed how many humanoids it has shipped.
From the Sifted article of November 12, 2026 and cited sources: SoftBank led the $500m round, with Nvidia, Hitachi and T.Capital also investing. [2] [3] [4] [6]
SOURCES[2] Tech.eu – SoftBank leads $500M funding round in Agile Robots tech.eu[3] SiliconANGLE – Agile Robots raises $500M at $8.5B valuation siliconangle.com[4] Humanoids Daily – Agile Robots $500M Series F humanoidsdaily.com
AT Pulse research deskPublished · Updated · 5 min read · AI-assisted analysisAI-assisted, not human-edited. Methodology Corrections Who owns this site
- What happened
- SoftBank led the $500m round, with Nvidia, Hitachi and T.Capital also investing. [2] [3] [4] [6]
- Original source
- Sifted article, independent perspective
- Brief by
- AT Pulse research desk AI-assisted; publisher and contact on the desk page
- When
- November 12, 2026 article published
- Covered
- Nov 13 edition
- Evidence
- 9 sources across 9 sites
- 1SoftBank leads $500m round for Agile Robotssifted.eu
- 2Tech.eu – SoftBank leads $500M funding round in Agile Robotstech.eu
- 3SiliconANGLE – Agile Robots raises $500M at $8.5B valuationsiliconangle.com
- 4Humanoids Daily – Agile Robots $500M Series Fhumanoidsdaily.com
- 5Tech Times – Humanoid factory capacity is public, shipment…techtimes.com
- 6DealStreetAsia – $220m Series C led by SoftBank Vision…media.dealstreetasia.com
Reach: not measured yet
SoftBank led the $500m round, with Nvidia, Hitachi and T.Capital also investing. The $8.5bn valuation is about 8.5 times the roughly $1bn valuation SoftBank Vision Fund 2 backed in its 2021 Series C. Total funding now stands at about $2bn. [2] [3] [4] [6]
The final round is smaller than the roughly $800m that Bloomberg's unnamed sources described in June. At that stage, SoftBank was said to be considering more than $300m, and the reported terms were described as subject to change. [9] [3]
The new capital is aimed at US expansion and humanoid manufacturing. The Fürstenfeldbruck plant is rated for up to 10,000 humanoids a year, but that is capacity, not output. Production of the ONE S and ONE SN models is due to start at the end of 2026, with a target of 1,000 to 2,000 units in 2027. [2] [5]
The valuation multiple rests on estimates. Sacra puts 2025 revenue at about $339m and cites $690m in 2026 guidance, which implies roughly 12 times forward revenue. Sacra can trace only $270m to $380m of disclosed primary equity within the reported ~$2bn total. [5]
The valuation is company-announced with no filing in the reviewed sources, and implies about 12x forward revenue only on analyst estimates and guidance. For buyers, a 10,000-unit factory signals ambition, not proven delivery or reliability.
The research is done and the dossier is below. The company's own press release didn't turn up, so the round figures come from SiliconANGLE, which says they were company-announced.
Executive brief
Munich-based Agile Robots says it raised $500m in a Series F at an $8.5bn valuation, led by SoftBank. That is roughly 8.5x the ~$1bn valuation SoftBank backed in 2021 (SiliconANGLE; Humanoids Daily). Nvidia, Hitachi and T.Capital also took part. The round is smaller than the ~$800m Bloomberg reported in June. The money goes to US expansion and humanoid production. The company has not said how many humanoids it has shipped (Tech Times).
What changed and event timeline
SoftBank's first lead
SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a $220m Series C. Reports described Agile Robots as Germany's first robotics unicorn, valued at about $1bn (;).
Agile ONE launched
The company unveiled an industrial humanoid with force-sensing hands and a three-layer control "brain." It planned to start manufacturing in Bavaria in early 2026 ().
DeepMind partnership
Agile Robots agreed to deploy Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics foundation models on its robots. Data from deployed robots will feed back into model improvement ().
Talks reported at ~$800m
Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, reported early talks on an ~$800m round, with more than $300m possibly from SoftBank. It cautioned that terms could change ().
$500m Series F closes
The company announced $500m at $8.5bn, bringing total funding to about $2bn (;).
Capabilities and access
- Product line: the Diana 7 seven-axis torque-sensing arm, the Agile ONE humanoid, the compact Agile ONE S for research use, and the Agile ONE SN (SiliconANGLE).
- ONE SN: runs on Nvidia Jetson Thor and Isaac GR00T. Tech Times names the GR00T 1.7 vision-language-action model.
- Factory: the Fürstenfeldbruck plant is rated for up to 10,000 legged and wheeled humanoids a year. That figure is capacity, not output (Tech.eu).
Read the full section
- Product line: the Diana 7 seven-axis torque-sensing arm, the Agile ONE humanoid, the compact Agile ONE S for research use, and the Agile ONE SN (SiliconANGLE).
- ONE SN: runs on Nvidia Jetson Thor and Isaac GR00T. Tech Times names the GR00T 1.7 vision-language-action model. ONE S/SN production is due to start at the end of 2026, targeting 1,000–2,000 units in 2027 (Tech Times).
- Factory: the Fürstenfeldbruck plant is rated for up to 10,000 legged and wheeled humanoids a year. That figure is capacity, not output (Tech.eu).
Technical analysis for researchers and developers
- Training data: a "pyramid" with real-world teleoperation and field data at the base, physics simulation in the middle and video/image data on top (The Robot Report).
- Control stack: three layers, with "slow thinking" for planning, "fast thinking" for actions like grasping, and high-frequency low-level control for fine manipulation (same source).
- Model choice: the company now works with two outside model stacks, Nvidia's GR00T and DeepMind's Gemini Robotics (Humanoids Daily).
Read the full section
- Training data: a "pyramid" with real-world teleoperation and field data at the base, physics simulation in the middle and video/image data on top (The Robot Report).
- Control stack: three layers, with "slow thinking" for planning, "fast thinking" for actions like grasping, and high-frequency low-level control for fine manipulation (same source).
- Model choice: the company now works with two outside model stacks, Nvidia's GR00T and DeepMind's Gemini Robotics (Humanoids Daily). Developers face a choice of configuration by vendor stack.
- No public evaluation: the reviewed sources contain no benchmarks, task success rates or published results.
Claims and evidence
- $500m, $8.5bn, ~$2bn total: company-announced and repeated by Tech.eu and SiliconANGLE (SiliconANGLE). The valuation is self-reported.
- Funding gap: analyst firm Sacra can trace only $270–380m of disclosed primary equity within the ~$2bn total (Tech Times).
- Revenue: most recently disclosed at €200m as of June 2025. These are estimates and guidance, not audited figures (same source).
Read the full section
- $500m, $8.5bn, ~$2bn total: company-announced and repeated by Tech.eu and SiliconANGLE (SiliconANGLE). The reviewed sources show no filing that confirms these figures. The valuation is self-reported.
- Funding gap: analyst firm Sacra can trace only $270–380m of disclosed primary equity within the ~$2bn total (Tech Times).
- Revenue: most recently disclosed at €200m as of June 2025. Sacra estimates $339m for 2025 and says 2026 guidance is $690m, which would put the valuation at roughly 12x forward revenue. These are estimates and guidance, not audited figures (same source).
- "20,000+ robotic solutions deployed": company figure only (TechCrunch).
- Investor comment: Dennis Chang of SoftBank Investment Advisers, speaking about his firm's own portfolio company, praised its ability to execute at industrial scale (Humanoids Daily).
Context and prior work
- Origins: Agile Robots was spun out of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in 2018.
- Shareholders: CEO Zhaopeng Chen says SoftBank is the largest shareholder and Chinese investors hold a single-digit stake.
- Wider SoftBank context: on 4 November China blocked SoftBank's $5.375bn purchase of ABB Robotics (same source).
Read the full section
- Origins: Agile Robots was spun out of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in 2018. It has grown partly through acquisitions: Franka Robotics, idealworks, BÄR Automation and Krause Automation (SiliconANGLE).
- Shareholders: CEO Zhaopeng Chen says SoftBank is the largest shareholder and Chinese investors hold a single-digit stake. Early backers include Hillhouse, Sequoia and Foxconn Industrial Internet (Tech Times).
- Wider SoftBank context: on 4 November China blocked SoftBank's $5.375bn purchase of ABB Robotics (same source).
Limitations, safety and contested findings
- Shipments: humanoid shipment counts are undisclosed. Results from the Audi proof of concept at Ingolstadt have not been published (Tech Times).
- Skepticism about learning from video: Tech Times cites roboticist Rodney Brooks calling the idea of learning dexterity from video "pure fantasy thinking."
- Reliability math: Tech Times also works through compounding error. At 95% success per step, a 10-step task succeeds only about 60% of the time.
Read the full section
- Shipments: humanoid shipment counts are undisclosed. Results from the Audi proof of concept at Ingolstadt have not been published (Tech Times).
- Skepticism about learning from video: Tech Times cites roboticist Rodney Brooks calling the idea of learning dexterity from video "pure fantasy thinking." This bears directly on the top layer of the company's data pyramid.
- Reliability math: Tech Times also works through compounding error. At 95% success per step, a 10-step task succeeds only about 60% of the time. This is illustrative arithmetic, not a measured result.
- Regulation: the EU Machinery Regulation becomes mandatory on 20 January 2027, and the humanoid safety standard ISO 25785-1 is still in development (same source).
- Size of round: the close came in below the ~$800m in the June talks (The Next Web).
Business and practitioner implications
- Buyers: treat 10,000 units a year as capacity, not delivery.
- Developers: support for both GR00T and Gemini Robotics means integrations may differ by configuration.
- Investors: the $8.5bn valuation is self-reported. Revenue multiples depend on Sacra's estimates and on 2026 guidance.
Read the full section
- Buyers: treat 10,000 units a year as capacity, not delivery. Ask for pilot metrics before committing, since no Audi or other deployment data is public.
- Developers: support for both GR00T and Gemini Robotics means integrations may differ by configuration.
- Investors: the $8.5bn valuation is self-reported. Revenue multiples depend on Sacra's estimates and on 2026 guidance. Chen has raised the idea of a stock market listing but gave no timeline (Tech Times).
- European industry: this is one of Europe's largest physical-AI rounds, and the money is going partly toward expanding into the US.
The source trail.
Sources (9)
SoftBank leads $500m round for Agile Robots
Feed excerpt only.
sifted.eu