Theker raises $85M to build reconfigurable industrial robots

Barcelona-based robotics startup Theker has raised $85 million in a Series A funding round. A Series A is an early-stage venture capital funding round. The company plans to use the capital to build and commercialize reconfigurable robots that can be swapped out or resized for different industrial tasks. Unlike traditional automation systems that are locked into a single function, Theker’s machines are designed to adapt to various warehouse and manufacturing workflows. Co-founder Carla Gómez Cano explained the limitation of traditional systems: “If you always have to put the same cookie in the same box, that works perfectly, but most processes aren’t like that.”

The funding round was led by American venture capital firm CRV. The participants in the round include:

• CRV (lead investor)
• Samsung (investor and potential client)
• Aglaé Ventures (the investment vehicle of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, which is led by chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault)

Theker, which also counts Zara’s parent company Inditex as an early backer, aims to differentiate itself from competitors like Boston Dynamics that focus on fixed-form robots. Instead of a rigid design, Theker’s machines feature hands and arms that can be reconfigured depending on the task. While Samsung is not a client yet, Gómez Cano stated that the startup is in advanced discussions with the company. She and co-founder Jiaqiang Ye Zhu did not build the company to run pilots, choosing instead to target direct operations.

The startup plans to expand its showroom presence across Europe, the U.S., and Asia. To support this expansion, Theker is scaling its operations and hiring. Gómez Cano noted that the company has already received 15,000 job applications and must filter through them. She estimated that the team could grow to up to 120 people by the end of the year. The $85 million round significantly exceeded the company’s previous fundraising target of $30 million or $40 million, a target Gómez Cano previously acknowledged was much lower than the final result.

Why it matters

Theker’s $85 million raise represents one of Europe’s largest robotics Series A rounds, highlighting a shift in investor appetite toward generalist industrial robotics that can be reconfigured for diverse, non-specialized tasks. This generalist ambition—the goal of creating robots that can perform multiple, non-specialized tasks—reflects growing demand from manufacturers seeking flexible automation to address labor shortages without the constraints of fixed-form hardware.