Million-euro financing accelerates autonomous construction site technology
Gravis Robotics can intensify its global market launch with 23 million dollars in funding from several venture capital companies. The Zurich-based start-up has already found numerous new industrial partners for its autonomous excavators.
Venture capital firms from three continents have invested in Gravis Robotics: The spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, founded in 2022, has raised 23 million dollars in an early financing round, according to its information.
The round was led by the venture capital companies IQ Capital from London and Zacua Ventures from San Francisco. Pear VC from Palo Alto, California, Imad Ventures from the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, Sunna Ventures from Miami and the Zurich-based company Armada Investment as well as the globally active cement manufacturer Holcim from Zug also participated.
Gravis Robotics offers autonomous earthmoving machines that combine artificial intelligence, machine vision and human interfaces to increase throughput, reduce waste and improve safety on construction sites, whether the operators are in the cab or coordinating the work remotely.
With the recent funding, Gravis now has the technology, partnerships and global distribution channels across the industry to drive the adoption of true autonomy on a large scale, the company said. In addition, it also announced “a wave” of new industry partnerships. For example, Gravis Robotics has partnered with Taylor Woodrow in the UK on a major infrastructure project at Manchester Airport, carrying out the first autonomous excavation work on a major active construction site in the country. There are also agreements with Holcim and the South Korean company HD Hyundai.
The fastest route to autonomy is through increasing productivity, CEO Dr. Ryan Luke Johns is quoted as saying. “By providing operators with real-time 3D intelligence and the ability to seamlessly switch between autonomy and advanced control, we are covering more of the work, accelerating the application and creating the data pipeline needed to learn new skills from the industry’s most challenging tasks.“ The company considers it an advantage to have its Zurich headquarters “at the heart of the renowned robotics and automation ecosystem”.