Reported 12 Nov 2026 · Capital A one-minute read

SoftBank and Nvidia put $500 million into a German humanoid robot maker.

Reuters reported on November 12 that Agile Robots raised $500 million at an $8.5 billion valuation, led by SoftBank. Caveat: we could not read the company's own announcement.

Until now

Humanoid robot money is American and Chinese.

Now

Europe has an $8.5 billion one, with a plant running.

Why it matters

The factory is the point. Agile Robots spun out of the German Aerospace Center in 2018 and opened a plant near Munich this year that it says can build 10,000 humanoids a year. Nvidia invested in a robot customer the same week its own chief executive resigned.

Established

Reuters reports $500 million raised at an $8.5 billion valuation.
SoftBank led the round; Nvidia and Hitachi took part.
The money goes to United States expansion and more production capacity.

Not established

Revenue. Agile Robots has published no audited figure.
That the Munich plant builds 10,000 robots a year today.
Nvidia's stake size, or whether the round has closed.

The five-minute readThe record, the timeline, the weight and 3 sources

The record

Reported, not verified. The round comes from a Reuters story filed at 09:55 Universal Time on November 12, which says the company announced it that day, and a Forbes piece quoting company statements. We could not reach agile-robots.com or find the company's own release, and Agile Robots is private. The company's newsroom carrying the round, or a SoftBank disclosure naming it, verifies this. We set February 28, 2027 as the test.

Reuters, in a story by Leo Marchandon datelined Gdansk and filed at 09:55 Universal Time on November 12, 2026, reports that Munich-based Agile Robots raised $500 million led by SoftBank, with Nvidia and Hitachi participating, at an $8.5 billion valuation, and that the company announced it that day. Reuters reports the money will fund expansion in the United States and added production capacity including in Germany. It describes the company as a maker of humanoid robots and robotic arms, founded in 2018 as a spin-off from the German Aerospace Center, with more than 2,000 research and development staff and over 650 patents, and reports that a factory opened earlier in 2026 at Fuerstenfeldbruck near Munich which the company says can produce up to 10,000 legged and wheeled humanoid robots a year, citing rapidly rising demand. Forbes, published at 6:55 am Eastern Time the same day, names the round a Series F, adds Hitachi Ventures and T.Capital as participants, puts total funding raised at about $2 billion, and reports more than 3,500 employees from almost 60 countries, more than 20,000 industrial robotic systems deployed, and acquisitions including Franka Robotics, Idealworks, BAR Automation and Krause Automation. Forbes quotes Dennis Chang, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers: "We believe Physical AI will transform industries," and founder and chief executive Zhaopeng Chen: "Physical AI will fundamentally change how the world builds, moves and makes things." Forbes cites unofficial Sacra estimates of $339 million of 2025 revenue and $690 million of 2026 guidance, which would put the valuation near 12 times forward revenue, and reports the prior round was a $220 million Series C led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 in 2021 at about $1 billion. The Agile ONE humanoid launched a year ago at 174 centimetres and 69 kilograms, carrying up to 20 kilograms, and an Agile ONE SN research version built on Nvidia's Jetson Thor was announced in October. Not established: Nvidia's stake size, whether the round has closed, audited revenue, and the plant's actual output.

How it got here

Sep 2021
SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a $220 million Series C that made Agile Robots a unicorn at about $1 billion, according to unofficial figures Forbes cites.
Early 2026
The company opened a plant at Fuerstenfeldbruck near Munich, which it says can build up to 10,000 legged and wheeled humanoids a year.
Oct 28
Agile Robots announced the Agile ONE SN research humanoid at an Nvidia developer event in Berlin, built on Nvidia's Jetson Thor and Isaac stack, with an Audi pilot.
Nov 5
China barred SoftBank from buying ABB Robotics' China business, part of a $5.375 billion sale. Edition 079 carded SoftBank's robotics ambitions running into a wall.
Nov 12
Reuters reported the $500 million round at $8.5 billion, led by SoftBank with Nvidia and Hitachi, on the same day Nvidia filed its founder's resignation.

Who has to react

SoftBank, now twice into the same company across 5 years; Nvidia, investing in a buyer of its robot chips the week it lost its chief executive; Hitachi; European industrial policy, which has wanted a champion like this; American and Chinese humanoid makers; Audi and the carmakers running pilots; the employees of 20,000 deployed systems.

What to watch

Would strengthen itAnother European physical AI company raises more than $300 million at over $3 billion, or Agile Robots opens the announced United States site, by December 31, 2027.
Would strengthen itAgile Robots names Nvidia silicon in a volume production humanoid, or Nvidia discloses the stake in a filing, by September 30, 2027.
Would weaken itAgile Robots raises a later round flat or down, cuts staff, or the Fuerstenfeldbruck plant is reported below 1,000 units a year, by December 31, 2027.

Why it weighs this much

Signal strength

CostMedium

CommitmentHigh

ReversibilityLow

PersistenceYear

Cost is medium. Five hundred million dollars is real money but it is other people's, and at 12 times forward revenue on unofficial estimates the buyers are paying a story price, not a hard one. Commitment is high: an equity cheque at a marked valuation cannot be unwound, it resets the price for every later round, and SoftBank is doubling into a company it first backed in 2021 at a fraction of this. Reversibility is low for the same reason. Persistence is a year or more. The factory, the United States expansion and the headcount this funds take years to build and will still be there when the humanoid enthusiasm turns, which is what makes it worth watching either way.

The words

Series F: The sixth round of venture funding. A letter this far down usually means a company is large, old and not yet public.
Physical AI: The industry term for AI that moves things in the world: robots, arms and vehicles, as opposed to software that only produces text or images.
Forward revenue multiple: A valuation divided by next year's expected sales. It says what buyers will pay now for revenue that has not arrived.

Sources

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