An employee secondary share sale lets the people who helped build RobCo realize some of the value they created.
San Francisco, Austin and Munich, October 5, 2026 – RobCo has surpassed a $1 billion valuation as it builds the next generation of autonomous industrial robotics, doubling its valuation in just nine months. The deal brings new investment into RobCo while giving long-standing employees the opportunity to realize part of the value they have helped create since the company’s founding.
Existing investors including Sequoia, Lightspeed, Greenfield, Kindred, Lingotto and Promus Ventures are participating in the transaction alongside a group of new investors, including Cherry Ventures and European Tech Collective, a group of founders behind some of Europe's most successful technology companies.
“This is an important moment for RobCo, and I cannot think of a better way to mark it than by giving some of the people who built this company the opportunity to realize part of the value they created,” said Roman Hölzl, Co-founder and CEO of RobCo. “There was strong demand to invest in RobCo, so we used that moment to strengthen the company. A billion-dollar valuation is an incredible milestone, but we’re much more excited about what comes next: bringing the next generation of autonomous industrial robotics to factory floors.”
Alfie: the Autonomous Industrial Robot
At the center of RobCo’s ambitions is Alfie, a robot purpose-built for the autonomous industrial lifecycle. Alfie combines perception, reasoning and execution to handle the tasks that have defeated traditional automation for decades: high-mix, unstructured, safety-critical work on real factory floors. RobCo will commercially launch Alfie at RobCoN, its first annual summit, in Munich on March 4th, 2027.
Betting big on the United States
RobCo is doubling down on the United States, already its fastest-growing market. Customer operations now span more than a dozen states, supported by manufacturing and assembly operations in Austin, Texas, and a lab in San Francisco. And RobCo is putting leadership on the ground: the CEO has relocated to the US to drive the company’s expansion personally.
“RobCo is building for a future in which AI doesn’t just reason and generate, but acts in the physical world. The progress the company has made over the past few years is impressive, but we believe this is still the beginning”, adds Luciana Lixandru, Partner at Sequoia Capital. “RobCo has the ambition and technology to fundamentally change how industrial work gets done, and we’re excited to see the company take that vision from Europe to factory floors around the world.”
About RobCo
RobCo is building the next generation of Autonomous Industrial Robotics to help companies automate the ordinary, so humans can do the extraordinary. Founded in Munich in 2020, RobCo delivers end-to-end robotics systems that solve the most pressing challenges in manufacturing: labor shortages, cost pressure, workplace safety. Deployed through a Robotics-as-a-Service model with zero upfront investment. Operations in Munich, Austin, and the RobCo Bay Area Lab in San Francisco. Learn more at rob.co.