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Startups Zurich, Switzerland

200 million for autonomous excavators

Gravis Robotics, an ETH Zurich spin‑off based in Zurich, raised $200 million in a Series A round led by SoftBank, valuing the company at $1 billion. The company develops AI and sensor systems that enable conventional excavators and other construction machines to perform tasks such as digging, levelling, and loading lorries autonomously, and the technology is already deployed on dozens of sites worldwide. The funding will be used to expand the team, grow internationally, and deploy the technology on more construction sites and machines.

Published
18 Aug 2026
2 min read 1 source
Intelligence brief
Zurich, Switzerland / Startups
CH

Gravis Robotics, an ETH Zurich spin‑off based in Zurich, raised $200 million in a Series A round led by SoftBank, valuing the company at $1 billion. The company develops AI and sensor systems that enable conventional excavators and other construction machines to perform tasks such as digging, levelling, and loading lorries autonomously, and the technology is already deployed on dozens of sites worldwide. The funding will be used to expand the team, grow internationally, and deploy the technology on more construction sites and machines.

Why it matters

This demonstrates Switzerland’s capacity to translate ETH research into high‑value AI‑driven robotics solutions that can address global industry challenges.

Primary source record
ETH Zurich News

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