German robotics startup Neura raises up to $1.4 billion from Amazon, Nvidia and others to scale humanoid robots

The funding round

Neura Robotics, a German startup founded in 2019, has secured a financing round of up to $1.4 billion (approximately €1.21 billion). The company described it as a record raise since its founding. According to Handelsblatt, the round is among the largest ever completed in Germany. The capital infusion values Neura at $7 billion (€6.1 billion), giving it so-called unicorn status, the label applied to tech companies valued at $1 billion or more.

Who is backing the company

Investors include several major American and European corporations. Amazon, Nvidia, and Qualcomm are participating, alongside the crypto firm Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin. German industrial names Bosch and Schaeffler, both existing partners of Neura, are also contributing. The European Investment Bank is involved as well. The company did not disclose how much each investor committed or how much of the total has already been drawn down.

With this financing, Neura secures a leading position in the global robotics race, on par with the best from the US and China.

What Neura builds

Neura develops cognitive and humanoid robots equipped with vision, hearing, and a sense of touch. The product range spans industrial, domestic, and humanoid machines. The company is also building the "Neuraverse," an ecosystem of shared intelligence for robots. French media describe Neura as the European challenger to pioneers such as China's Unitree and the American firm Boston Dynamics.

The physical AI thesis

Founder David Reger argued that the future of artificial intelligence will not be confined to screens. He said AI will move, interact, learn, and work alongside people in the real world. Neura aims to build what it calls the leading global platform for "physical AI," a combination of hardware and artificial intelligence. The company reports an order backlog and strategic development pipeline exceeding $1 billion.

In the future, people will no longer just ask what AI can tell them. They will ask what AI can physically do.

Scaling toward 2030

Neura intends to use the fresh capital to expand serial production to several million robots by 2030. The firm is headquartered in Metzingen, near Stuttgart, and already collaborates with Schaeffler and Bosch in Germany. Automation using humanoid robots is still in its early stages and is considered a future market, according to the company.