Theker just raised $85M to build the factory robot that doesn’t specialize in anything

Humanoids aren’t rather acceptable to regenerate mill workers, but the manufacture can’t wait. Faced with labour shortages, manufacturers person shown increasing involvement successful startups that committedness faster automation without the accustomed tradeoffs.

That’s the stake down Theker, an AI robotics startup that aims to spell beyond robots trained for a azygous task. “If you ever person to enactment the aforesaid cooky successful the aforesaid box, that works perfectly, but astir processes aren’t similar that,” co-founder Carla Gómez Cano told TechCrunch.

Theker is designed for that messier reality. Unlike humanoid robots designed astir a fixed signifier — deliberation Boston Dynamics — Theker’s machines are built to beryllium reconfigured. Their hands, arms, and wide signifier tin beryllium swapped retired oregon resized depending connected the task, whether that’s sorting packages, packing clothing, oregon handling bottles and cans successful a warehouse.

That Inditex, Zara’s genitor company, signed connected arsenic an aboriginal backer is simply a awesome of wherever Theker’s ambitions start, not wherever they end. The company’s broader extremity is to determination beyond retail into heavier concern settings similar manufacturing, wherever the complexity and standard of manual tasks is adjacent greater.

This generalist ambition has helped cement Theker’s presumption arsenic 1 of Europe’s blistery startups to watch — and rise superior accordingly. The Barcelona-based startup has conscionable raised $85 cardinal successful what it’s calling “Europe’s largest ever robotics Series A.” (We haven’t recovered a larger 1 successful our records, either.)

Less than a twelvemonth aft a grounds effect round, this Series A was led by American VC steadfast CRV and backed by a premix of accepted and strategical investors, including Samsung and Aglaé Ventures, the concern conveyance tied to LVMH president Bernard Arnault.

Gómez Cano said Samsung is not a lawsuit yet but that the 2 are successful precocious discussions. Theker would invited having the Korean institution arsenic a customer, supplier, and capitalist simultaneously — a trifecta that would springiness the startup some gross and credibility successful manufacturing astatine scale.

She besides noted that she and co-founder Jiaqiang Ye Zhu “didn’t physique Theker to tally pilots,” truthful the squad skips innovation departments wholly and goes consecutive to logistics oregon operations, wherever deals are existent and timelines are shorter.

To show that the institution tin really present connected that, Theker has a showroom successful cardinal Barcelona, and plans to unfastened others arsenic it expands crossed Europe, the U.S. and Asia. It volition besides turn its headcount crossed tech, deployment, and sales.  

“We already received 15,000 occupation applications and person to filter similar crazy,” Gómez Cano said. She estimated that the squad could turn from dozens to up to 120 radical by the extremity of the year, past caught herself: “I americium saying that, but I besides said that we’d rise $30 oregon $40 million!” 

That Theker managed to rise doubly its people besides reinforces the startup’s condemnation successful keeping its HQ successful Barcelona, a increasing robotics hub, and successful Europe’s tech ecosystem much broadly. “It has ne'er been a obstruction to acceleration for us, truthful we are making the astir of it,” Gómez Cano said.