One machine, many tasks. Barcelona startup Theker has raised $85m to scale modular, AI-native robots that operators can reconfigure to sort parcels, pack clothing or handle bottles. The Series A, announced in June 2026, was led by US firm CRV and included strategic investors such as Samsung, Aglaé Ventures and Inditex. Theker says the financing is Europe’s largest robotics Series A and will be used to speed deployments, deepen its AI stack and open additional showrooms as it moves from demos into routine operations.

Manufacturers will be able to deploy one reconfigurable chassis across multiple tasks, after Theker sealed the $85m round to push a modular alternative to single-purpose industrial robots.

Theker’s claim is simple and practical. Its platform lets operators swap arms, hands and attachments and even resize those elements so the same base unit can be repurposed for different lines. The company frames that approach as a break from fixed-form humanoid designs, saying their machines are built to be reorganised at the hardware level and driven by an AI-native software stack that adapts in real time to changing inputs and workflows.

Co-founder Carla Gómez Cano made the point bluntly to TechCrunch: "If you always have to put the same cookie in the same box, that works perfectly, but most processes aren't like that." She added the founders "didn't build Theker to run pilots," signalling a strategy of selling into logistics and operations teams rather than running long innovation-lab trials.

Product and practical traction

Theker argues the modular design reduces capital costs and inventory of machines by letting a single platform cover varied workflows. In logistics a chassis can be fitted with a fast picker for parcels; in apparel it can use a softer gripper for garments; in bottling it can adopt a handler built for cylindrical loads. That flexibility is the product claim. The commercial question is whether integration, reliability and uptime meet operators' expectations.

Customers will evaluate mean time between failures, total cost to integrate reconfigurable hardware and software into existing lines, and the procurement cycle for replacing a specialist device. To address those concerns Theker is deliberately selling into procurement channels that execute decisions on the shop floor, rather than courting long pilots that sit in labs. The company says this accelerates procurement and produces measurable operational outcomes.

Mastheads

Early commercial traction includes backing from Inditex, and Gómez Cano told TechCrunch that Samsung was in advanced discussions though not yet a customer. Theker runs a showroom in central Barcelona where operators can see hardware and software in action, and plans further showrooms as it expands across Europe, the United States and Asia. The company says the new funding will accelerate those deployments and showroom openings.

Cap table and growth plans

Lead investor CRV anchors a syndicate that mixes venture capital and strategic corporate players. Other participants include Samsung, Aglaé Ventures, Cathay Innovation, 20VC, Henkel Ventures and Kibo Ventures, alongside existing backers including Inditex. Theker described the round as Europe’s largest robotics Series A, a claim the company is using to underline its ambitions to build manufacturing-scale partnerships and customers.

Theker was founded in 2022 and completed a seed round less than a year before this Series A. Tech.eu reported that the seed raised was €18m. The new $85m will be used to accelerate deployments with industrial operators, deepen the company’s proprietary AI and robotics stack, open additional showrooms and expand headcount across software, electronics, mechanical engineering and deployment teams.

The company says it already attracts strong hiring interest, receiving roughly 15,000 job applications. It plans to grow from its current team of dozens to as many as 120 employees by the end of 2026, a scale-up that will concentrate hires in software, electronics and mechanical engineering as well as deployment roles to put machines into daily use at customer sites.

For buyers, the promise is attractive because it offers flexibility where factory lines and distribution centres require variety. For Theker, the technical challenge is to make reconfiguration straightforward and reliable enough that operations teams accept the initial integration work. Theker is betting that selling into operations teams and demonstrating measurable outcomes will shorten procurement cycles enough to overcome scepticism about modular platforms.

Investors appear to be buying that argument. The mix of strategic and financial backers gives Theker both capital and potential customer relationships, while the showrooms provide a place for procurement teams to test real tasks rather than rely on lab pilots. The company’s emphasis on practical deployments is a direct response to a common criticism of robotics start-ups that get stuck in long trials without scaling.

By doubling down on Barcelona as its headquarters and on Europe as a robotics hub, Theker is positioning itself to court manufacturing partners across multiple regions while keeping engineering and demonstration capacity close to home. The next phase for the company will be to convert demonstration interest into repeatable operational contracts.

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Theker plans to grow to about 120 staff by the end of 2026 and to open additional showrooms across Europe, the United States and Asia as it seeks to convert demonstrations into repeatable operational contracts.

This article was created with AI assistance.