Insider Brief
- Gravis Robotics has raised $23 million in a round co-led by IQ Capital and Zacua Ventures, with additional backing from Pear VC, Imad, Sunna Ventures, Armada Investment, and Holcim, to accelerate global deployment of its autonomous earthmoving technology.
- The ETH Zurich spinout is rolling out retrofit autonomy systems across construction and quarry sites in seven countries, expanding partnerships with major contractors, OEMs, and rental providers, including new integrations in the U.K. and Switzerland.
- Gravis’ learning-based platform is designed to augment existing crews by adapting to variable ground conditions and improving productivity and safety as the company targets large-scale autonomy in the earthmoving and mining sectors.
Gravis Robotics has raised $23 million to accelerate deployment of its autonomous earthmoving technology across the U.K., U.S. and Europe. According to the company, the round was co-led by IQ Capital and Zacua Ventures, with participation from Pear VC, Imad, Sunna Ventures, Armada Investment, and Holcim, and will fund global expansion, hiring, and deeper partnerships with equipment manufacturers, contractors, and rental providers.
The Zurich-based company, founded in 2022 as a spinout from ETH Zurich, is developing a retrofit autonomy platform that turns heavy machinery into robotic equipment capable of operating with limited human oversight. Gravis’ systems are already in use on construction and quarry sites in multiple regions, including deployments with Holcim, Taylor Woodrow, and HD Hyundai, along with an active infrastructure project at Manchester Airport — described by the company as the U.K.’s first large-scale autonomous excavation on a live construction site.
“The fastest path to autonomy is delivering productivity today,” Gravis Robotics CEO Dr. Ryan Luke Johns said in the announcement. “By giving operators real-time 3D intelligence and the ability to shift seamlessly between autonomy and augmented control, we cover more of the work, accelerate adoption, and create the data pipeline needed to learn new capabilities from the industry’s hardest jobs.”
The company said it has also expanded its distribution footprint through a rental partnership with Flannery, the U.K.’s largest plant hire provider, offering machines pre-equipped with its autonomy rack. Additional integrations through OEM and dealer networks have rolled out in the U.K. and Switzerland. Gravis now operates in seven countries across Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia, giving it one of the broadest commercial footprints among autonomous excavation providers.
Gravis’ platform uses a learning-based control system that adapts to variable ground conditions by combining data from hydraulics, cameras, LiDAR, and GNSS. according to the company. A companion tablet interface, Gravis Slate, integrates with standard construction workflows and feeds operational data back into the company’s models. The company says its approach is intended to augment human crews, raising output, reducing rework, and improving site safety.
By focusing on productivity and retrofittable autonomy rather than fully replacing existing processes, Gravis said it aims to address longstanding constraints in the construction sector, including labor shortages and declining output.
With new capital and a growing set of industrial partners, Gravis said it plans to expand its technology and distribution channels to bring large-scale autonomy to the global earthmoving and mining markets.
