Gravis Robotics – the earthmoving autonomy platform – says it is “pulling further ahead in the race to transform global construction” as it announces a new wave of industry partnerships alongside $23 million in fresh funding.
The funding was co-led by IQ Capital and Zacua Ventures, with Pear VC, Imad (CVC of Nesma & Partners), Sunna Ventures, Armada Investment and Holcim, and will be used to accelerate Gravis’ global rollout, grow the team, and expand Gravis’ growing network of partnerships with OEMs, contractors, and dealers.
Field-tested, distribution ready
Gravis systems are already used by industry giants in construction, and for the autonomous handling of quarry materials with Holcim and others – supporting site preparation, stockpile management and the loading of trucks and screeners.
Most recently, Gravis Robotics broke ground at a Taylor Woodrow infrastructure project at Manchester Airport – the UK’s first large-scale use of autonomous excavation on an active construction site.
Gravis is also now partnering with the UK’s largest plant hire provider Flannery to provide a combined rental package for construction customers, enabling a turnkey excavator solution that is already equipped with the Gravis Rack.
A similar model is available through the dealer networks of Gravis’ OEM partners, where its Develon-integration has been deployed in the UK, and most recently with Kibag in Switzerland.
Autonomy at scale
Following this expansion, Gravis is now live in seven countries across the UK, EU, US, LATAM and Asia – one of the widest footprints for autonomous excavation technology in the world, spanning mixed-fleet and OEM-integrated equipment.
It also sees Gravis bring autonomy directly into the earthmoving equipment rental market for the first time.
And now, with its latest funding, Gravis has the technology, partnerships and industry-wide, global distribution channels in place to lead the rollout of true autonomy at scale.
Setting the pace
Founded in late 2022 as a spinout from ETH Zurich, Gravis is tackling construction’s biggest challenges – rising demand, falling output and an ageing workforce – by targeting productivity, not processes.
Drawing on the team’s deep expertise in AI and autonomy, the retrofit system goes far beyond simple commands. It adapts to real ground conditions through a learning-based control system that “feels the soil” using data from hydraulics, LiDAR, cameras and GNSS.
This intelligence is paired with Gravis Slate – a tablet interface designed to fit seamlessly into construction workflows, that uses the robotic sensor suite to also augment manual operations – creating a continuous data loop that helps Gravis improve performance and expand its autonomous capabilities at speed.
Purpose-built to handle the unpredictability of sites across a range of tasks, from trenching and earthworks to grading, material handling and more, Gravis enhances human teams rather than replacing them, boosting output 30 percent, reducing rework, and improving safety.
One partner, Morgan Sindall Construction described Gravis’ robotic excavator “as productive as a skilled machine driver – and in some instances, enhanced team efficiency”.
The European advantage
The traction Gravis has seen in just three years not only gives it a commercial edge in the 1.6 trillion-dollar earthmoving industry but highlights the frontrunner advantage it’s gained scaling from Europe.
Europe’s contractors punch well above their weight on a global scale: the revenue of the top five is roughly equal to that of the top 28 in the US.
Having to define, operate and scale under high cross-border standards makes European construction global by design. So much so, the majority of revenues (approximately 60 percent) come from international projects.
Those same standards now make Europe a proving ground for new systems like autonomous earthmoving, and a launchpad for global deployment. What’s more, being based in Zurich, a renowned robotics and automation hub, Gravis stands at the very heart of this ecosystem.
World-class talent behind the tech
The Gravis team is engineered for this exact problem – blending construction insights, state-of-the-art learning-based robotics, and senior OEM leadership experience.
Co-founder and CEO Ryan Luke Johns is an architect, roboticist and holder of the Guinness World Record for the largest dry-stone wall built by a robot.
Co-founder CTO Dominic Jud is a robotic systems expert in autonomous control systems for complex machinery. The duo met in the lab of co-founder and board member Marco Hutter, a renowned expert in AI and serial entrepreneur in robotics.
Ryan Luke Johns, CEO and co-founder of Gravis Robotics, said: “The fastest path to autonomy is delivering productivity today.
“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.”
Archie Muirhead, partner at IQ Capital, said: “Gravis stands out, not just for its technical brilliance, but for how much it’s already achieved.
“The team’s thoughtful, grounded approach to autonomy – deploying real systems with real crews – has led to trusted partnerships with some of the largest global construction companies and OEMs and invaluable data from time-in-field. This huge and unserved market is ready now for autonomy and Gravis is setting the pace.”
Juan Nieto, general partner at Zacua Ventures, said: “Gravis embodies the kind of innovation our industry has been waiting for: autonomy that truly works in the field.
“Built on deep ETH Zurich research and driven by a top-notch team, they’re already delivering productivity gains customers can feel. The enthusiasm from our global investor base of leading builders, operators, and equipment groups is the clearest validation of how transformative Gravis’s technology can be.”
Steffan Speer, technical director at Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “Construction faces major challenges, from attracting and retaining a skilled workforce to improving productivity. The industry has often been seen as slow to adopt new technologies. Working with Gravis Robotics, we’re changing that.”
Bengt Steinbrecher, head of Holcim Maqer Ventures, said: “Digital automation and robotics are technologies Holcim has employed for many years to enhance our operational efficiency, productivity and safety.
“Gravis is a leader in its field, and we see significant opportunities to apply their solutions in our markets. We look forward to bringing its technology to market at scale.”
Phil Skegg, managing director at Taylor Woodrow, said: “Innovation is really important to Taylor Woodrow because we have to become more productive, fundamentally it’s about making sure we remain relevant not just for today but for tomorrow and that’s why we have engaged with Gravis Robotics.”
