Barcelona's THEKER secures €73M to implement AI-powered factory robots that learn while working.

      **TL;DR** Barcelona's THEKER secured €73M led by CRV with participation from Samsung and LVMH for AI-native factory robots. It's the first investment for both Samsung and LVMH in a Spanish startup.

      THEKER, the Barcelona-based AI robotics firm, has successfully raised €73 million ($85 million) in a Series A funding round aimed at scaling its generalist factory robots for various industrial production environments. The round was spearheaded by CRV, with contributions from Samsung, LVMH, Cathay Innovation, 20VC, Henkel Ventures, Korelya, and Bright Pixel Capital. This investment represents Samsung’s initial venture into a Spanish company, LVMH’s first investment in the Spanish startup scene, and CRV’s inaugural investment in Spain.

      This funding round comes less than a year after THEKER completed Spain’s largest seed round at €18 million. The quick transition from seed to Series A highlights what the company describes as significant commercial deployment momentum rather than merely laboratory demonstrations.

      “We didn't create THEKER for pilot projects,” stated co-founder Carla Gómez Cano. “Our goal was to produce robots that function upon arrival and keep improving after that.”

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      THEKER introduces a novel category of industrial robot: AI-native, generalist machines that adapt in real time to fluctuating environments, mixed SKUs, irregular shapes, and operational variations without the need for manual reprogramming. In contrast to traditional industrial robots, which are rigid and expensive to reconfigure, THEKER claims its systems can be deployed in days and continuously learn during production.

      The robots are already operational in various production environments throughout Europe, focusing on manufacturing, logistics, and retail. The company reports that they assist operators in increasing throughput, minimizing downtime, and addressing ongoing labor shortages.

      Founded by Gómez Cano and Jiaqiang Ye Zhu, THEKER incorporates advanced vision, control systems, and large language models into robots that function without pre-set programming. The investment will be used to enhance its proprietary AI and robotics technology and to grow the team in software, electronics, mechanical engineering, and deployment efforts.

      “What Carla, Jiaqiang, and the team have created is uniquely valuable, an intricate technical platform combined with genuine commercial deployment momentum,” noted Reid Christian, general partner at CRV. “We believe THEKER has the potential to become a leading robotics company of this generation.”

      This funding comes amid a rising trend of European robotics investments in 2026. Germany's RobCo secured €100 million for modular AI-driven manufacturing systems, Stuttgart's Sereact raised €93 million to expand its physical AI platform to the US, and NEURA Robotics raised up to $1.4 billion in the largest full-stack robotics round to date. While THEKER's raise is smaller, it signals a significant move from Samsung and LVMH, two major industrial and luxury conglomerates, choosing to invest in a robotics company rather than a software enterprise.

      Many robotics firms struggle to bridge the divide between research demonstrations and reliable robots for real-world factories. THEKER asserts it has successfully crossed that threshold. The €73 million in funding is intended to determine whether the robots can perform as promised at scale across different industries and regions. Factory trials in Germany conducted by Siemens and Nvidia have demonstrated that industrial deployment is feasible, and THEKER aims to establish Barcelona as a leader in this field.