The company has doubled its valuation in nine months.

Munich robotics company Robco has crossed the ‘unicorn’ threshold of a $1bn valuation after selling more than $40m in employee shares to a group of new and existing investors. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the deal earlier today (5 October).

The 2020-founded German company develops AI-powered flexible robotic hardware kits for various applications in SME manufacturing, such as machine loading and unloading, or palletising.

According to Robco, its robots can acquire task-specific skills through demonstration and self-learning rather than manual programming, enabling faster deployment and easier adoption. The company said that it has already sold more than 1,000 robots to big-name clients including the BMW Group.

“This is an important moment for Robco, and I cannot think of a better way to mark it than by giving some of the people who built this company the opportunity to realise part of the value they created,” said Roman Hölzl, the co-founder and CEO of Robco.

“There was strong demand to invest in Robco, so we used that moment to strengthen the company.” Hölzl co-founded the company with fellow Technical University of Munich researchers Paul Maroldt and Constantin Dresel.

Robco is focusing on the development and commercialisation of its autonomous industrial robot Alfie, which it said combines perception, reasoning and execution to handle a range of high-mix and unstructured tasks. The robot is set for commercial launch in Munich next March.

The secondary share sale follows a $100m Series C round in January led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Lingotto Innovation – an Exor arm – which reportedly valued the business at roughly $500m.

The latest deal involves existing investors Lightspeed, Lingotto, Sequoia and Leitmotif – an investment firm funded by Volkswagen – and new participants, including Cherry Ventures and European Tech Collective.

Robco expanded into the US in 2025, and is currently operating in San Francisco and Austin. Earlier this year, it said that the US had become one of its strategic priorities for growth, with manufacturers in the country fast adopting automation efforts in response to labour constraints and re-shoring initiatives.

In 2024, Robco raised $42.5m in a funding round led by Lightspeed.

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