Munich robotics company RobCo reached a valuation above $1 billion in a late-stage round announced October 5, doubling its valuation in nine months, according to Dealroom. The round combined new capital with a secondary sale that let long-serving employees sell some shares, and the amount raised was not disclosed.

Sequoia, Lightspeed, Greenfield, Kindred, Lingotto and Promus Ventures returned, joined by Cherry Ventures and the European Tech Collective. In February RobCo raised about €85 million in a Series C led by Lightspeed and Lingotto, and its own release put that round at $100 million.

Founded in 2020 by Roman Hölzl, Paul Maroldt and Constantin Dresel, RobCo is known for modular robot arms that connect like building blocks, sold as a service to midsize manufacturers. Its next product, Alfie, is meant to perceive its surroundings, plan the steps and handle unstructured, safety-critical tasks on its own, and will be unveiled in March 2027 at the company’s first summit in Munich.

The United States is RobCo’s fastest-growing market, with customers in more than a dozen states, production in Austin, Texas and a lab in San Francisco. Hölzl said the priority is “bringing the next generation of autonomous industrial robotics into factories.” RobCo is focusing on factory floors rather than humanoids.

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Image: Der kollaborative Roboter Sawyer von Rethink Robotics beim Einsatz in der Industrie.jpg by HAHN Group, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Illustrative photo; it does not show the events described.