SoftBank leads $500M Agile Robots round a week after China blocked ABB deal
- SoftBank led a roughly $500 million funding round in Munich’s Agile Robots.
- China blocked SoftBank’s $5.4 billion takeover of ABB’s robotics unit.
- SoftBank shares slid 11% following the loss of the ABB deal.
SoftBank (TYO: 9984) has led a funding round of about $500 million in Agile Robots, a Munich robotics company that Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) also backs.
The deal comes about a week after China refused to approve SoftBank’s $5.4 billion purchase of the robotics division of ABB (SWX: ABBN).
Why is SoftBank betting on Agile Robots?
SoftBank (TYO: 9984) has led a funding round of about $500 million in Agile Robots, a Munich robotics company founded in 2018 by researchers from the German Aerospace Center.
Back in 2021, Agile Robots became Germany’s first robotics unicorn after SoftBank led a $220 million Series C round. SoftBank was also in early talks to anchor a raise of around $800 million and could put in more than $300 million.
Agile Robots has more than 3,200 employees in Germany, China and India. It builds both the software and the hardware for its robots. The company says its revenue doubled from the year before and reached about $230 million (200 million euros).
In November 2025, it launched Agile ONE, its first humanoid robot. The robot is made for factory jobs like running machines, picking up and placing items, and handling small parts with care. The company planned to start full production at a new plant in Bavaria in early 2026.
How is Nvidia involved with Agile Robots?
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) announced its plan to invest in Agile Robots at the Invest in Germany Summit in October, during CEO Jensen Huang’s visit to Berlin. Cryptopolitan reported that three other German companies were on its list: medical-software maker Avelios, audio firm Mirelo and satellite builder Reflex Aerospace.
At the same event, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called on the country’s manufacturers to share their industrial data with AI systems.
Nvidia is also working directly with Agile. Agile CEO Zhaopeng Chen has revealed that the company plans to build 1,000 to 2,000 small humanoids next year. They will use Nvidia’s Jetson Thor computer and its GR00T AI model. Stanford University and ETH Zurich were named as possible buyers. These robots are versions of the Agile ONE line. They stand 1.4 meters tall and weigh about 34 kilograms, so lab researchers can handle them safely.
Globally, $27.6 billion went into robotics and physical AI in 2025, more than twice the amount from the year before.
Masayoshi Son, the founder of SoftBank, has been putting money into robotics as well as AI. SoftBank has also finished a new $30 billion investment in OpenAI, which raised its share of the company to about 13%.
It was reported in August that Son is in talks to take a majority stake in 1X Technologies, which is backed by OpenAI, at a value near $6 billion.
Why did the ABB deal fall through?
On November 5, ABB said China’s National Development and Reform Commission had told SoftBank it would not approve the transfer of ABB’s China robotics operations, stalling the deal the two sides signed in October 2025. Chinese officials reportedly feared that robotics data would be sent abroad to train AI models.
The ABB deal was the second foreign purchase Beijing has blocked this year. Meta (NASDAQ: META) was earlier ordered to undo its purchase of the AI startup Manus.
SoftBank’s (TYO: 9984) shares dropped more than 11% in Tokyo the day after China refused to approve the ABB deal. At the same time, it became more expensive to insure SoftBank’s debt. The five-year price reached 466 basis points, the highest since October 2022 and the highest in four years.
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FAQs
Why did China block SoftBank's ABB robotics deal?
China's National Development and Reform Commission declined to clear the transfer of ABB's China robotics business, with officials concerned that robotics data could be sent abroad to train AI models.
What is Agile Robots?
Agile Robots is a Munich company founded in 2018 by German Aerospace Center researchers that builds robot arms, mobile robots and humanoids, employs more than 3,200 people, and became Germany's first robotics unicorn after a SoftBank-led $220 million round in 2021.
How is Nvidia involved with Agile Robots?
Nvidia named Agile among four German startups it plans to back and is supplying its Jetson Thor computer and GR00T AI model so the company can build 1,000 to 2,000 small humanoids next year, with Stanford University and ETH Zurich cited as potential customers.
Hannah Collymore
Hannah is a writer and editor with nearly a decade of blog writing and event reporting experience in the crypto space. At Cryptopolitan, Hannah contributes to the news page, reporting and analyzing the latest developments in DeFi, RWA, crypto regulation, AI and frontier tech industries. She graduated from Arcadia university with a degree in Business Administration.
