Startup profile · funding coverage
Gravis Robotics funding, valuation and investors
Retrofit autonomy kits (Gravis Rack) that add copilot or full autonomy to mixed-brand excavators and heavy construction machines.
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Funding, valuation & investors
Answer-first snapshotLatest funding
Series A
$200M · August 2026
Latest known valuation
Not publicly disclosed
Total disclosed equity funding
$200M
Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.
Current status
private
series a · Zurich, Switzerland (operations also cited in Austin and Oxford)
Investors in latest funding
Lead: SoftBank
Overview
Gravis Robotics is a Zurich-based ETH spinout (2022) that sells hardware and software to make existing heavy construction machinery autonomous. On August 17, 2026 it announced a $200 million Series A with SoftBank as sole investor, which the company calls the largest Series A in construction robotics. The Gravis Rack kit is described as OEM-agnostic, with named brands including Caterpillar, Case, John Deere, JCB, Hitachi, Volvo, and others. Modes range from in-cab Copilot to supervised full autonomy. Company claims include deployments on four continents, up to 30% productivity versus peak manual operation, and selection to lead an $8 million UK government-backed CAM Pathfinder with Flannery Plant Hire. Inc. names co-founders CEO Ryan Luke Johns, CTO Dominic Jud, and ETH professor Marco Hutter. A $1 billion post-money valuation appears in Inc./TFN reporting but is not stated on Gravis’s Series A page.
Why Gravis Robotics is interesting
August 17, 2026 Series A: $200M from SoftBank as sole investor — physical AI for earthmoving that feeds data-center and infrastructure buildouts, without forcing contractors to replace fleets.
Product & use cases
Gravis Rack autonomy hardware plus software: in-cab Copilot, full autonomy, and background site sensing on mixed heavy-equipment fleets.
- Earthmoving for data centers, energy, housing, and civil infrastructure
- Plant-hire fleets offering autonomous machines as a rental SKU
- Labor-constrained jobsites needing supervised robotic excavators
Key facts
- Series A (Aug 17, 2026): $200M; SoftBank sole investor (company)
- Company: largest Series A in construction robotics; mixed-fleet Rack kit
- Named OEM coverage includes Caterpillar, John Deere, Volvo, JCB, Hitachi (company)
- $1B post-money is press-reported (Inc./TFN), not on Gravis’s own Series A post
Funding history (newest first)
Competitive landscape
Edge: OEM-agnostic retrofit plus sim-to-real soil/machine models — contractors are not forced into a single-manufacturer robot fleet.
Construction autonomy is slow because of safety, codes, and fleet inertia. Gravis’s SoftBank round funds deployment. Independent jobsites must still prove the 30% claim.
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OEM autonomy programs (Caterpillar, Volvo, etc.) incumbent
Closed or brand-tied autonomy roadmaps.
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Bedrock Robotics adjacent
Autonomous construction equipment; see /2026-bedrock-robotics-270m-series-b.
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Hadrian adjacent
Automated factories for defense parts — different layer of the physical buildout.
Industries
Market / IPO context
Editorial / static context — not a live quote.
Related funding articles
Venture Capital Tracker pieces that cover Gravis Robotics's financing or category context.
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