Zurich-based robotics company mimic has secured €13.8 million in seed funding to bring its groundbreaking “physical AI” technology to industrial settings. The startup’s mission is simple yet ambitious, to build robots that can finally perform the kind of intricate, dexterous work usually reserved for human hands.
The funding round was led by Elaia, with participation from Speedinvest, Founderful, 1st Kind, 10x Founders, 2100 Ventures, and the Sequoia Scout Fund. This brings mimic’s total funding to more than €17 million, a strong start for a company less than two years old.
A Practical Path to Human-Like Dexterity
While many robotics firms chase the dream of fully humanoid robots, mimic is taking a more grounded approach. Instead of building entire human-shaped machines, it focuses on AI-powered robotic hands that can be attached to standard industrial robot arms.
“Humanoids are exciting, but there aren’t many industrial scenarios where the full-body form factor truly adds value,” said Stephan-Daniel Gravert, Co-founder and CPO of mimic. “Our approach pairs AI-driven dexterous robotic hands with proven, off-the-shelf robot arms to deliver the same capabilities in a way that is much simpler, more reliable and rapidly deployable.”
Born from ETH Zurich, Built for the Factory Floor
Founded in 2024 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich, mimic brings together a diverse team of 25 engineers, researchers, and operators led by Stefan Weirich (CEO), Stephan-Daniel Gravert (CPO), Elvis Nava (CTO), Benedek Forrai (Founding Engineer), and Robert Katzschmann (Scientific Advisor).
The company’s work blends cutting-edge AI foundation models with advanced mechanical design, enabling robots to replicate human-like dexterity, a capability long considered the “holy grail” of automation.
Teaching Robots Through Human Demonstrations
mimic’s key innovation lies in its data-driven learning process. Instead of manually coding robot movements, the startup trains its AI using real human demonstrations.
Skilled workers wear mimic’s motion-capture devices while performing their regular tasks on factory floors. These data streams feed into imitation learning algorithms, allowing robots to understand and reproduce complex manipulations autonomously.
This means that mimic’s robots can adjust to changing object positions, handle unpredictable disruptions, and self-correct in real time, qualities rarely found in conventional automation.
Meeting the Industry’s Most Persistent Challenge
Traditional robots thrive in controlled settings, executing repetitive tasks with precision. But when it comes to fine manipulation, folding, gripping, twisting, or handling irregular parts, human workers still outperform machines by a wide margin.
As industries face labour shortages and reshoring pressures, demand is rising for robots that can flexibly adapt to human-centric environments. mimic’s technology aims to bridge that automation gap and bring AI from the lab directly to the assembly line.
“Our general-purpose AI models allow us to automate manual labour in a way that simply was not possible before,” said Elvis Nava, Co-founder and CTO of mimic.
Also Read: Beyond Renewables Raises ₹5 Crore to Power India’s Circular Solar Revolution
Fueling Europe’s Robotics Renaissance
Switzerland is rapidly turning into one of the major deep-tech hubs in Europe, and the ascent of mimic is a great additional factor for this trend. The country is home to excellent research institutions and a flourishing robotics ecosystem that ranges from autonomous drones to inspection robots.
By combining AI innovation with Swiss engineering precision, mimic is positioning itself among Europe’s most technically ambitious ventures, one that could help shape the next era of industrial automation.
Investors See a Billion-Dollar Frontier
According to Elaia Partner Clément Vanden Driessche, “The world-class team at mimic is addressing one of the most challenging problems in physical AI: dexterous manipulation. mimic’s breakthrough approach integrates a proprietary robotic hand, state-of-the-art foundation models for robotics, and novel data acquisition and training methods.”
Vincent Faber, Investment Manager at Elaia, added that this capability “unlocks a previously untapped segment of the automation market, where the demand for flexible solutions continues to grow.”
Andreas Schwarzenbrunner, General Partner at Speedinvest, echoed this sentiment: “With mimic, we see exactly what Europe does best, world-class engineering backed by foundational research. This is the moment Europe steps forward to compete and lead in the new era of AI and robotics.”
From Pilot Projects to Real-World Impact
mimic’s technology is already being piloted by major manufacturers, including Fortune 500 companies and global automotive brands, as well as multinational logistics providers. The startup plans to use its new funding to expand these pilots, refine its hardware, and advance its AI foundation models.
CEO Stefan Weirich summed it up best:
“We’re at an inflection point in robotics where learning-based systems meet real industrial needs. We make dexterity deployable at scale, closing the gap between what AI can do in the lab and what factories actually need.”
Robots That Truly Work Like Humans
The global market for humanoid and dexterous robots could reach $38 billion by 2035, within a broader robotics industry projected to grow between $200 billion and $1 trillion by 2040, according to company estimates.
Although some problems such as making the product reliable and dealing with safety regulations still exist, mimic’s decision to use AI for dexterity rather than to create a full humanoid replica gives it a distinct advantage in reality.
As industries are getting modernized and the use of automated machines is increasing in areas other than just the repetitive assembly lines, the mimic’s strategy can be the one which is essential in effect, thus enabling robots not only to resemble humans in appearance but ultimately to function in the same way.
Also Read: Aquilius Raises $1.1 Billion, Setting a Record for Asia’s Largest Real Estate Secondaries Fund
