Gravis Robotics Accelerates Global Growth as it Signs Series of Landmark Deals and Raises $23 Million to Bring its Autonomous Earthmoving Tech to the UK, US, and EU

Gravis Robotics, the earthmoving autonomy platform, led by Ryan Luke Johns, Dominic Jud, Marco Tranzatto, Burak Cizmeci, and Neil Woodfin, has secured $23M co-led by IQ Capital and Zacua Ventures, with Pear VC, Imad (CVC of Nesma & Partners), Sunna Ventures, Armada Investment and Holcim.

Gravis systems are already in use with major construction and quarry operators, including Holcim, enabling autonomous site prep, stockpile management, and material loading. The company recently achieved the UK’s first large-scale autonomous excavation on an active site at Manchester Airport with Taylor Woodrow.

Gravis is also partnering with Flannery to offer rental excavators pre-fitted with the Gravis Rack, and its OEM-integrated solutions are now deployed through dealer networks in the UK and, most recently, with Kibag in Switzerland.

Following this expansion, Gravis is now active in seven countries across the UK, EU, US, LATAM, and Asia, one of the broadest global footprints for autonomous excavation technology, covering both mixed-fleet and OEM-integrated machines. This also marks the first time true autonomy is being brought directly into the earthmoving equipment rental market.

With its latest funding, Gravis now has the technology, partnerships, and global distribution channels needed to drive the large-scale rollout of full autonomy across the construction sector.

Founded in 2022 as an ETH Zurich spinout, Gravis is addressing construction’s core challenges, rising demand, declining productivity, and an aging workforce, by focusing on output rather than process redesign.

Its retrofit autonomy system uses a learning-based controller that “feels the soil” through hydraulics, LiDAR, cameras, and GNSS, enabling machines to adapt to real ground conditions. This intelligence is paired with Gravis Slate, a tablet interface that fits directly into existing workflows and uses the same sensor suite to augment manual operations, creating a continuous data loop that accelerates performance improvements.

Built for unpredictable job sites and tasks such as trenching, grading, earthworks, and material handling, Gravis boosts human teams rather than replacing them, delivering up to 30% higher output, reduced rework, and improved safety. As one partner, Morgan Sindall Construction, noted, the robotic excavator is “as productive as a skilled machine driver, and in some instances, enhanced team efficiency.”

The traction Gravis has achieved in just three years gives it a clear commercial edge in the $1.6 trillion earthmoving market and underscores the advantage of scaling from Europe.

European contractors operate under some of the world’s toughest, most varied cross-border standards, making the industry global by default. The top five European contractors generate revenue comparable to the top 28 in the US, and roughly 60% of their income comes from international projects. This environment has turned Europe into a proving ground for emerging technologies like autonomous earthmoving, and a launchpad for global rollout.

Based in Zurich, a leading robotics and automation hub, Gravis sits at the center of this ecosystem, strengthening its position as a category frontrunner.