THEKER Raises $85M Series A for AI Robotics

Jan de Vries · 2026-06-11

Barcelona-based robotics company THEKER just announced a massive $85 million Series A round. That's about 73 million euros for those keeping score. The company builds AI-native generalist robots for industrial production, and this funding will help them deploy more systems with top-tier operators, deepen their tech stack, and grow their team across software, electronics, and mechanical engineering. ### Who's Backing THEKER? The round was led by CRV, with participation from some heavy hitters: Samsung, LVMH, Cathay Innovation, 20VC, Henkel Ventures, Korelya, and Bright Pixel Capital (Sonae). Existing investors also joined in. This marks CRV's first investment in Spain, Samsung's first-ever in a Spanish company, and LVMH's first in the Spanish startup ecosystem. ### What Makes THEKER Different? THEKER's robots aren't your typical clunky industrial machines. They're AI-native generalists that can adapt in real time to changing environments, mixed product types, irregular shapes, and operational hiccups. No manual reprogramming needed. Traditional industrial robots are rigid, task-specific, and expensive to reconfigure. THEKER's systems deploy in days, learn continuously on the job, and operate autonomously in messy real-world factories. "We didn't build THEKER to run pilots. We built it to ship robots that work the day they arrive and continue improving every day after," says Carla Gómez Cano, co-founder of THEKER. "This round accelerates a vision we've been building toward from day one: making intelligent, adaptable robotics practical for real industrial operations at global scale." ### Real-World Impact Already deployed across Europe, THEKER's robots help industrial operators boost throughput, cut downtime, and tackle persistent labor shortages in manufacturing, logistics, and retail. The company's rapid traction reflects a bigger shift in robotics and AI. While advances in foundational AI models make generalist robotics possible, few companies have bridged the gap between research demos and reliable, large-scale production robots. ### A Broader Trend in Robotics Funding THEKER's raise comes alongside other big robotics investments this year. Germany's RobCo closed $108 million (100 million euros) to expand modular AI-driven manufacturing systems. Stuttgart-based Sereact raised a $101 million Series B in April to scale its physical AI platform across the US. And Norway/US-based Trener Robotics secured $28 million Series A to expand its industrial AI automation platform. ### What's Next for THEKER? This financing comes less than a year after THEKER closed the largest seed round in Spanish startup history. That shows how fast they've moved from breakthrough tech to real-world deployment. Founded by robotics and AI engineers Carla Gómez Cano and Jiaqiang Ye Zhu, THEKER aims to build a new category of industrial robotics. Reid Christian, general partner at CRV, sums it up: "What Carla, Jiaqiang and the team have built is exceptionally rare - a deeply technical platform paired with real commercial deployment momentum. We believe THEKER has the potential to become one of the defining robotics companies of this generation." ### A Quick Look at the Numbers - **Funding**: $85 million Series A - **Lead investor**: CRV - **Key backers**: Samsung, LVMH, Cathay Innovation, 20VC, Henkel Ventures, Korelya, Bright Pixel Capital - **Deployment**: Live in production operations across Europe - **Team expansion**: Software, electronics, mechanical engineering, and deployment roles ### Why This Matters THEKER is tackling one of robotics' biggest challenges: bringing general-purpose AI into real production environments where reliability, adaptability, and scale actually matter. If they succeed, we could see a shift from specialized, one-trick robots to flexible systems that can handle whatever a factory throws at them.