Unchained Robotics receives 8.5 million euros

The tech startup Unchained Robotics has successfully completed a Series A Extended financing in the amount of 8.5 million euros. The investors include Direttissima Growth Partners (lead), Navivo Capital, Future Industry Ventures, vent.io and D11Z. The company intends to use the fresh capital to scale its platform for simple and flexible robot automation internationally with a focus on the USA.

Operation like a smartphone

Many companies are still struggling with a high barrier to entry when it comes to automation: robots are expensive, difficult to configure and hardly flexible. Unchained Robotics wants to change this with LUNA OS, a standardized operating system for robots from a wide range of manufacturers.

We have struck a nerve with our offering in the SME sector. Everyone is looking for simple, affordable automation that can be used without a great deal of expertise.

Mladen Milicevic, co-founder of Unchained Robotics

The software makes it possible to operate industrial robots like a smartphone (using drag & drop), without any programming knowledge. The system is supplemented by the MalocherBot, a standardized automation solution for palletizing and packaging, for example.

Over 300 companies already rely on the platform

Customers include over 300 industrial companies in Europe, including Vorwerk, Europe's largest direct sales company."The solution from Unchained Robotics has enabled us to automate quickly and easily - without additional programming knowledge or long start-up phases," explains Jörn Compernaß, Managing Director of Vorwerk Logistik.

70 robots planned for use with Albéa Group

The next growth step is expansion into the USA. The first extensive partnerships have already been implemented, for example with the Albéa Group, one of the world's largest manufacturers of cosmetics packaging.

The USA is open to technology, but at the same time there is often a lack of in-depth automation expertise. Our platform is meeting with enormous demand there.

Kevin Freise, co-founder of Unchained Robotics

Unchained Robotics automates tasks such as packaging and palletizing at several locations in the USA. More than 20 robots are already in use, and this figure is set to rise to around 70.

Standardization as the key to global scaling

"Unchained Robotics solves one of the key structural problems in the industry: a lack of standardization," says Christopher Hoffmann, Partner at Direttissima Growth Partners. "With the LUNA OS operating system and the modular MalocherBot system, real scalability is possible - a decisive step for the future of manufacturing and logistics."

The demand is huge: according to a Stepstone study, around 3.7 million workers will leave the German labor market by 2030. Activities such as machine loading or palletizing can be increasingly automated. The prerequisite is that the technology is accessible and affordable.