Compare
Startups
The physical AI startup ecosystem: manipulation, tactile, data, components, humanoids. The emerging landscape, mostly European, with sourced stages and funding.
These young companies occupy specific slots in the value chain: our robotics value chain pillar explains where and why.
Click any row to reveal details, sources and verification date.
| Name | Country | Category | Stage | Founded | Funding (USD) | What they do |
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| Pollen Robotics | FR | Humanoids | acquired | 2,016 | n/a | Open-source humanoid robot maker behind Reachy, acquired by Hugging Face in 2025 to bring embodied AI to a mass developer community. |
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The April 2025 acquisition was Hugging Face's first hardware move, pairing its open-source AI ecosystem with the $70,000 Reachy 2 platform already used by labs such as Cornell and Carnegie Mellon. Sources : TechCrunch (2025-04-14)Hugging Face (2025-04-14)Forbes (2025-06-02) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Inbolt | FR | Manipulation | series A | 2,019 | $19.7M | 3D vision AI that lets industrial robot arms locate parts and adapt their trajectory in real time, in under 80 milliseconds. |
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Deployed on FANUC, Universal Robots and Yaskawa arms across six robot brands; its 2026 Automate launch demoed real-time bolt tightening on a moving engine block with FANUC. Sources : The Robot Report (2024-09-19)Automate.org (A3) (2026-05-01)Today's Medical Developments (2026-05-01) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Wandercraft | FR | Exoskeletons | series C+ | 2,012 | n/a | Builds self-balancing exoskeletons and, since 2025, industrial humanoid robots, extending medical rehabilitation technology into factory automation. |
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Its Calvin-40 humanoid, built in 40 days on exoskeleton technology, has lifted 40kg tires on Renault's Douai line since February 2026; Renault, an investor since 2025, plans 350 units across its plants by 2027. Last disclosed round: $75M Series D, June 2025 (exact cumulative total funding is not consistently reported across sources). Sources : Wandercraft (2025-06-11)Sifted (2025-06-11)Usine Nouvelle (2026-05-01) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Enchanted Tools | FR | Humanoids | seed | 2,021 | $17.2M | Builds Mirokai, a wheeled social humanoid with expressive character design for guidance, concierge and light logistics roles in healthcare and hospitality. |
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Founded by ex-Aldebaran co-founder Jerome Monceaux, creator of the NAO and Pepper robots, it raised what was then the largest seed round in French robotics history (EUR 17 million, 2022) and delivered its first Mirokai unit to Sorbonne University's ISIR lab.
Seen at : MACHINA 2026
Sources : MerciSF (2024-11-15)The Robot Report (2026-03-01)Tracxn (2026-07-09) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Niryo | FR | Manipulation | series A | 2,017 | $17.9M | French maker of affordable 6-axis collaborative robot arms, expanding from education and research into industrial automation and sovereign defense robotics. |
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Raised a further EUR 3 million state-backed loan in February 2026 to launch its industrial Nate platform, positioning itself as a sovereign robotics supplier for France's defense industry. Sources : Nordic 9 (2026-02-10)Retail Technology Innovation Hub (2023-10-06)Niryo (2026-06-01) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Agile Robots | DE | Manipulation | series C+ | 2,018 | $250M | DLR spin-off building AI-driven force-sensing robot arms, dexterous hands and the Agile ONE industrial humanoid, unified by its AgileCore software platform. |
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Germany's first robotics unicorn (2021, $220 million Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, more than 3,200 employees); in June 2026 SoftBank was reported to be in early talks to anchor a new ~$800 million round, not yet confirmed as closed.
Headcount : 3,200
Sources : The Robot Report (2021-09-15)Bloomberg (2026-06-02)Agile Robots (2025-11-20) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Micropsi Industries | DE | Manipulation | series B | 2,014 | $45M | AI motion-guidance system (MIRAI) that lets industrial robots learn hand-eye coordinated tasks from human demonstration instead of being programmed. |
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Deployed at Siemens Energy, ZF Group and BSH; moved its corporate headquarters to San Francisco in September 2024 while keeping R&D in Berlin, after a $30 million Series B in February 2022.
Headcount : 60
Sources : Business Wire (2022-02-10)Crunchbase (2026-07-09)Micropsi Industries (2026-07-09) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| RobCo | DE | Manipulation | series C+ | 2,020 | $157M | Modular, rapidly deployable robot arm platform that lets small and midsize manufacturers automate production without custom integration. |
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Raised a $100 million Series C in January 2026 (Lightspeed Venture Partners and Lingotto Innovation co-leading) to advance its physical AI roadmap and expand US enterprise deployments, bringing total funding to roughly $157 million. Sources : The AI Insider (2026-01-30)Nordic 9 (2026-01-29)RobCo (2026-07-09) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Filics | DE | AMR and logistics | series A | 2,019 | $15.9M | Flat, low-profile autonomous mobile robots that slide under pallets to move up to 1.2 tons, saving up to 30 percent of warehouse floor space. |
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Closed a EUR 13.5 million round in July 2025 backed by the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, with Bosch, DHL and Nagel Group already testing the platform ahead of a 2026 European rollout. Sources : EU-Startups (2025-07-15)Automated Warehouse (2025-07-16)AGV Network (2025-07-17) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Kewazo | DE | AMR and logistics | series A | 2,016 | $35M | Autonomous LIFTBOT hoist that automates material handling on scaffolding and construction sites, replacing manual lifting and cranes. |
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Raised $16 million in a March 2026 Series A extension (Chevron Technology Ventures and Asahi Kasei among backers), bringing total funding to $35 million; LIFTBOT is deployed at more than 20 industrial sites in Europe and North America. Sources : The AI Insider (2026-03-20)FinSMEs (2026-03-19)Gate Garching (2026-01-15) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| mimic robotics | CH | Manipulation | seed | 2,024 | $18.4M | ETH Zurich spin-off developing AI-driven, human-like dexterous robotic hands trained directly from human demonstrations for industrial tasks. |
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Raised EUR 13.8 million in seed funding in November 2025 (led by Elaia and Speedinvest), bringing total funding above EUR 17 million, to scale human-level dexterity for factory floors. Sources : EU-Startups (2025-11-10)ETH AI Center (2025-09-15)Tech Funding News (2025-11-11) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Ascento | CH | Safety and software | pre-seed | 2,018 | $4.3M | Zurich-based wheel-legged patrol robot that performs autonomous outdoor security rounds as a robotics-as-a-service offering. |
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An ETH Zurich spin-off founded in 2018, it raised a $4.3 million pre-seed round and launched its Ascento Guard robot, backed by Zoox founder Tim Kentley-Klay and Clearpath Robotics co-founder Ryan Gariepy.
Headcount : 33
Sources : The Robot Report (2023-09-11)Playfair Capital Blog (2023-01-20)Tracxn (2026-05-31) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Automata | GB | Manipulation | series C+ | 2,015 | $152M | Modular robotics, orchestration software and data infrastructure that turn pharma and biotech labs into programmable, AI-ready systems. |
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Closed a $45 million Series C in early 2026 (led by Dimension, with a Danaher Ventures strategic partnership) to scale deployments across pharma, biotech and research organizations globally, bringing total funding to roughly $152 million. Sources : Startup Mag (2026-01-15)TechCrunch (2023-10-03)Automata (2026-07-09) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Fizyr | NL | Manipulation | seed | 2,014 | $4.4M | TU Delft spin-off providing AI vision software that lets industrial robots pick, stack, depalletize and unload trucks without hardware lock-in. |
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Won the Amazon Picking Challenge in 2016 before pivoting to pure software in 2017; partnered with Cognibotics and Zivid in 2025 on an automated bin-picking solution used by global systems integrators.
Headcount : 48
Sources : Tracxn (2026-04-26)Bits&Chips (2020-11-01)Fizyr (2026-07-09) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| MAKIINA | FI | Components and actuators | seed | 2,024 | n/a | Finnish physical AI startup building a modular, low-cost hardware and software stack, actuators, sensors and a robotics foundation model, made in Finland. |
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Founded in 2024 and backed by FOV Ventures among others, it has built dual-arm robotic systems for under $1,200 using in-house motors and actuators, benchmarked against Chinese alternatives on torque and cost. Sources : FOV Ventures (2026-02-01)The Robot Report (2026-04-01)MAKIINA (2026-07-09) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Chef Robotics | US | Manipulation | series A | 2,019 | $65.6M | AI-enabled robotic arms that scoop and assemble ingredients on food production lines, addressing labor shortages in meal-kit and prepared-food plants. |
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Raised a $43.1 million Series A (equity and equipment financing) in April 2025, bringing total capital raised since its 2019 founding to about $65.6 million. Sources : Chef Robotics (2025-04-03)CNBC (2025-03-31)The Robot Report (2025-04-06) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Dexterity | US | Manipulation | series C+ | 2,017 | $296M | Dual-arm mobile manipulator robots (DexR, Mech) that load, unload and palletize in warehouses, built by a team of Stanford roboticists. |
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Reached a $1.65 billion valuation after a $95 million round in March 2025 led by Lightspeed, with Sumitomo deploying 1,500 of its robots across Japan by 2026; total funding raised is about $296 million. Sources : Bloomberg (2025-03-11)TechCrunch (2025-03-11)Dexterity (2026-07-09) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Ambi Robotics | US | Manipulation | series A | 2,018 | $66.7M | UC Berkeley spin-off building AmbiSort, an AI-powered robotic arm system for parcel sorting in e-commerce and logistics warehouses. |
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Grew out of UC Berkeley's AUTOLab Dex-Net research; its deployed robot fleet had sorted over 100 million packages across US fulfillment hubs by 2024, after raising roughly $66.7 million total. Sources : TechCrunch (2022-10-17)Berkeleyside (2026-04-06)Ambi Robotics (2026-07-09) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Collaborative Robotics | US | AMR and logistics | series B | 2,022 | $140M | Mobile cobot (Proxie) led by ex-Amazon Robotics VP Brad Porter, designed to work alongside humans in healthcare, logistics and defense settings. |
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Raised a $100 million Series B in 2023, bringing total funding to $140 million, with deployments at the Mayo Clinic, Maersk and the US Department of Defense. Sources : TechCrunch (2023-07-26)Calibrate VC (2026-02-01)Collaborative Robotics (2026-07-09) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Cartken | US | AMR and logistics | series A | 2,019 | $22.5M | Former Google engineers' hardware-agnostic delivery and industrial robots (Courier, Hauler, Runner) using low-cost cameras instead of lidar. |
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Pivoted in 2025 from sidewalk delivery toward indoor industrial robots; raised $22.5 million in aggregate funding backed by Magna, Mitsubishi Electric and Shell Ventures.
Headcount : 43
Sources : Cartken (2024-07-03)TechCrunch (2025-07-20)Cartken (2026-03-31) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| GelSight | US | Tactile sensing | series B | 2,011 | n/a | MIT spin-off making GelSight tactile fingertip sensors that give robotic grippers and humanoid hands human-level sense of touch. |
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Founded in 2011 by vision scientist Edward Adelson; won a Phase II US Air Force SBIR contract in March 2026 (about $2.5 million) to miniaturize its tactile sensor for defense-grade robotic grasping. Sources : PR Newswire (2020-01-24)GelSight (2026-03-10)GelSight (2026-07-09) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Bright Machines | US | Manipulation | series C+ | 2,018 | $400M | Software-defined manufacturing platform combining computer vision, AI and adaptive robotics to automate flexible electronics assembly lines. |
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Raised a $126 million Series C in 2024 backed by BlackRock, NVIDIA and Microsoft, bringing total funding to $400 million to expand its assembly software stack and microfactory model. Sources : PR Newswire (2024-06-11)The Robot Report (2024-06-12)Alejandro Cremades (2026-01-01) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| XELA Robotics | JP | Tactile sensing | seed | 2,018 | n/a | Waseda University spin-off making uSkin, a thin tri-axial tactile sensor array that retrofits onto robotic hands and humanoid grippers. |
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Founded in 2018 in Tokyo; integrated its uSkin sensors into the Tesollo DG-5F five-fingered robotic hand in late 2025 and was selected for Tokyo's SusHi Tech Global startup program in February 2026. Sources : XELA Robotics (2026-01-25)The AI Insider (2026-01-05)Tokyo Metropolitan Government (2026-02-15) Last verified 2026-07-09 |
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| Encord | GB | Teleoperation and data | series C+ | 2,020 | $110M | Data development platform that manages, curates, evaluates and annotates the massive video and sensor datasets used to train physical AI systems such as autonomous vehicles, robots and drones. |
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Raised a $60 million Series C in February 2026 (led by Wellington Management, joined by Y Combinator, CRV, N47, Crane Venture Partners and new backers Bright Pixel and Isomer Capital), bringing total funding to $110 million; its managed data volume grew from 1 to 5 petabytes in 18 months while serving 300+ physical AI teams including Toyota's Woven, Skydio and Zipline.
Seen at : MACHINA 2026
Sources : SiliconANGLE (2026-02-26)EU-Startups (2026-02-26)Y Combinator (2026-07-10) Last verified 2026-07-10 |
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| LimX Dynamics | CN | Humanoids | series B | 2,022 | $296M | Shenzhen-based maker of general-purpose humanoid and multi-form robots (TRON, Oli) paired with the LimX COSA embodied-intelligence operating system, giving legged robots reconfigurable limbs for both walking and manipulation. |
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Closed a $200 million Series B in February 2026 (Stone Venture, JD, Oriental Fortune Capital, Shangqi Capital, NIO Capital and Future Capital among backers), bringing total funding to roughly $296 million since its January 2022 founding by Wei Zhang and Li Zhang; its TRON 2 robot can be reconfigured between arm and leg use without hardware changes.
Seen at : MACHINA 2026
Sources : The Robot Report (2026-02-03)CnEVPost (2026-02-02)Tracxn (2026-07-10)TechNode (2026-02-03) Last verified 2026-07-10 |
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| Path Robotics | US | Manipulation | series C+ | 2,018 | $370M | AI-powered autonomous welding robots (Obsidian) that use computer vision and adaptive sensing to weld parts without pre-programmed paths, targeting the skilled-welder shortage in heavy manufacturing and shipbuilding. |
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Has raised roughly $370 million since 2018 from investors including Matter Venture Partners and Drive Capital (including a $100 million Series D in 2024); in February 2026 it signed a memorandum of understanding with America's largest military shipbuilder, HII, to integrate its Obsidian welding AI into Navy shipyards.
Headcount : 175Seen at : MACHINA 2026
Sources : Case Western Reserve University (2026-06-01)Ohio Tech News (2026-02-18)Sea Air Space (Navy League) (2026-04-01) Last verified 2026-07-10 |
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| Stereolabs | FR | Components and actuators | acquired | 2,010 | n/a | French pioneer of stereo depth cameras (ZED) and AI perception software that gives humanoids, mobile robots and autonomous systems real-time 3D understanding of their environment. |
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Founded in Montrouge near Paris in 2010 and having shipped more than 90,000 ZED cameras to over 10,000 customers, it was acquired by lidar maker Ouster in a cash-and-stock deal (about $35 million in cash plus 1.8 million shares) that closed in February 2026, forming what the companies call a world-leading physical AI sensing and perception platform.
Seen at : MACHINA 2026
Sources : TechCrunch (2026-02-09)Business Wire (Ouster) (2026-02-09)Annuaire des Entreprises (INSEE/DINUM) (2026-07-10) Last verified 2026-07-10 |
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| Synapticon | DE | Components and actuators | series C+ | 2,012 | n/a | Maker of SOMANET integrated servo drives and ACTILINK actuators, safety-certified (SIL3 PLe) motion-control building blocks for robot joints, humanoids, cobots and AGVs, built on a software-first design philosophy. |
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Headquartered in Schönaich near Stuttgart with about 85 employees from 25 nations across offices in Silicon Valley, Shanghai and Belgrade, it closed a double-digit-million-euro Series C in 2021-2022 (Stabilus, then ICT Capital) to expand its SOMANET and ACTILINK product lines for humanoid and cobot joints.
Headcount : 85Seen at : MACHINA 2026
Sources : Pava Partners (2022-01-15)Synapticon (2026-07-10)Synapticon (2023-07-05) Last verified 2026-07-10 |
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| Lightwheel | CN | Simulation and tools | series B | 2,023 | $147M | Beijing-based physical AI infrastructure company building SimReady 3D assets, synthetic and egocentric human-demonstration data, and evaluation benchmarks (RoboFinals) that let robotics and embodied-AI teams train and test models without costly real-world data collection. |
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Raised roughly RMB 1 billion (about $147 million) across stacked Series A++/A+++ and Series B rounds in the first half of 2026, becoming what backers call the world's first unicorn in embodied data; more than 80 percent of the simulation assets used by leading embodied-AI teams reportedly originate from its platform, with partners including NVIDIA, Figure AI, Toyota and BYD.
Headcount : 125Seen at : MACHINA 2026
Sources : EqualOcean (2026-03-11)Signalbase (2026-06-28)NVIDIA (2026-05-01) Last verified 2026-07-10 |
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| microagi | DE | Teleoperation and data | series A | 2,023 | $63M | Berlin embodied-AI data company that pays a global network of operators, and offers free apartment cleaning in New York through its Shift app, to record first-person, head-mounted camera footage of household chores for training home robots. |
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Founded in 2023 and having raised $63 million including a Series A in 2026 (Hummingbird Ventures, Redalpine, LocalGlobe, Village Global), it runs a paid contributor network of more than 10,000 operators across 15 countries who earned over $5 million in Q1 2026 alone, and its May 2026 Shift cleaning-for-data launch in New York sold out its first 250 slots instantly.
Headcount : 44Seen at : MACHINA 2026
Sources : Semafor (2026-05-29)StartupHub.ai (2026-07-10)Let's Data Science (2026-06-01)RocketReach (2026-07-10) Last verified 2026-07-10 |
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| Allonic | HU | Components and actuators | pre-seed | 2,025 | $7.2M | Budapest-based robotics manufacturing startup building a 3D Tissue Braiding platform that automates production of humanlike robot bodies, weaving load-bearing fibers and integrating actuators and tendons directly around a skeletal scaffold. |
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Raised $7.2 million in pre-seed funding in February 2026, the largest pre-seed round in Hungarian history (led by Visionaries Club, with Day One Capital, PROTOTYPE, RoboStrategy and SDAC Ventures, plus angel investors including OpenAI and Hugging Face executives); founded in 2025 by Benedek Tasi, David Pelyva and David Hollo.
Seen at : MACHINA 2026
Sources : Tech Funding News (2026-02-10)EU-Startups (2026-02-12)Robotics 24/7 (2026-02-10) Last verified 2026-07-10 |
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| Scallog | FR | AMR and logistics | seed | 2,013 | n/a | French goods-to-person warehouse robotics: fleets of Boby mobile robots carry whole shelving units to picking stations, cutting operator walking distance and densifying storage without heavy infrastructure. |
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Appointed Jean-Luc Imhof, former CEO France, Benelux and Maghreb of KUKA, as managing director in December 2025 to scale internationally; deployed its goods-to-person system at Chalhoub Group's Dubai warehouse with SPAN in early 2026, its first Middle East installation. Sources : FAQ Logistique (communiqué Scallog) (2015-06-11)Scallog (communiqué) (2026-01-21)Supply Chain Magazine (2026-01-21)FAQ Logistique (2026-02-16) Last verified 2026-07-10 |
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