Gravis Robotics has banked $200 million from SoftBank, the largest Series A ever raised by a construction robotics startup and enough to make the Swiss company a unicorn.
The ETH Zurich spinout, founded in 2022, builds software-defined systems that turn heavy excavators into self-operating machines. Its Gravis Rack unit retrofits machines from Caterpillar, John Deere, JCB and Hitachi with cameras, lidar and an AI brain that lets them navigate busy job sites and dig without a human in the cab.
The company says its models are trained in simulated environments that capture the physical feedback a human operator feels, from engine sound to hydraulic resistance. Gravis claims the system lifts productivity by about 30% and can also act as a copilot for human drivers.
Construction remains one of the world’s least automated industries, and Gravis argues that labor shortages make autonomy urgent as governments pour money into new homes, roads, transit networks and power grids.
The round lands as the startup pushes into the UK, where it recently won an $8 million contract to retrofit existing excavator fleets. The company says its systems are already deployed across dozens of job sites globally.
