Swiss physical-AI startup Gravis Robotics said on August 17 that it closed a $200 million Series A round led by SoftBank Group, minting Europe's newest robotics unicorn at a $1 billion post-money valuation and locking in what it calls the largest Series A on record for a construction-robotics company.
SoftBank Backs A Physical-AI Bet On Earthmoving
Founded in 2022 as a spinout from ETH Zurich's Robotic Systems Lab, Gravis retrofits standard excavators and wheel loaders with a rooftop sensing and compute pack that lets the machines dig, trench, grade and load material without a human in the cab. SoftBank framed the check as a key node in its wider physical-AI portfolio, which already includes bets on humanoid robotics and autonomous heavy machinery.
The round also underscores the pivot in construction VC: with an aging workforce and chronic labor shortages, developers are pushing autonomy at earthmoving equipment before humanoid platforms are ready to help swing a bucket.
Gravis Rack Turns Excavators Into Self-Driving Machines
Gravis's flagship product, the Gravis Rack, is a rooftop appliance that packs cameras, lidar and GNSS-RTK positioning, plus the AI compute that runs the company's simulation-trained control models. Paired with the tablet-based Slate interface, the system can run heavy machines fully autonomously or as an operator co-pilot, and Gravis says it delivers roughly a 30% productivity uplift over manual driving.
The kit is machine-agnostic, retrofitting existing fleets from Caterpillar, John Deere, JCB and Hitachi. Customers including Holcim, Taylor Woodrow and Flannery are already running the platform across seven countries, and Gravis recently landed an $8 million contract to retrofit U.K. excavator fleets.
Physical AI's New Unicorn Class
The Series A follows Gravis's November 2025 $23 million bridge that laid the foundation for today's scale-up. It also lands during a run of nine-figure European robotics rounds, from Wayve Labs to Pasqal, that argue Europe is finally minting physical-AI unicorns of its own.
CEO Ryan Luke Johns said every construction project starts with moving earth, and freeing that bottleneck is what allows more housing, data centers and grid upgrades to actually get built.
Reporting based on coverage from SiliconANGLE, Sifted, Dealroom and Gravis Robotics.