Theker just closed $85 million in what it claims is Europe's largest robotics Series A—and their core insight is painfully obvious once you see it: most factories don't put the same cookie in the same box.
Co-founder Carla Gómez Cano put it bluntly: “If you always have to put the same cookie in the same box, that works perfectly, but most processes aren’t like that.” Theker’s robots are designed for that messier reality by swapping out hands, arms, and even their overall form depending on the task. Sorting packages, packing clothing, handling bottles—same chassis, different configuration. No fixed humanoid silhouette.
Reconfigurable Instead of Humanoid
Unlike Boston Dynamics or the wave of humanoid startups, Theker doesn't lock into a single morphology. Their machines get new grippers, new arm lengths, new bases as the job changes. That's a direct response to the labor shortages that have manufacturers desperate for automation without the usual single-purpose tradeoff. Inditex—Zara’s parent company—signed on as an early backer, and that’s a signal of where Theker starts, not where it ends.
Gómez Cano said the broader goal is to move beyond retail into heavier industrial settings like manufacturing, where the complexity and scale of manual tasks is even greater. The $85M round—led by American VC CRV and backed by Samsung and Aglaé Ventures (LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault's investment vehicle)—gives them the runway to try.
Real Customers, Not Pilots
“We didn’t build Theker to run pilots,” Gómez Cano said. Her team skips innovation departments entirely and goes straight to logistics or operations, where deals are real and timelines are shorter. To prove they deliver, Theker has a showroom in central Barcelona and plans to open others across Europe, the U.S., and Asia.
Headcount will grow from dozens to up to 120 people by year’s end—if the co-founder’s own estimate holds. (She admitted she originally targeted $30-$40M and ended up raising twice that, so take the headcount projection with a grain of salt.) Theker already received 15,000 job applications and “has to filter like crazy.”
The Barcelona Robotics Hub Grows Up
Theker is keeping its HQ in Barcelona, a growing robotics hub. Gómez Cano said Europe’s tech ecosystem “has never been a barrier to acceleration for us.” Samsung isn't a customer yet but is in advanced discussions; having the Korean giant as customer, supplier, and investor simultaneously would give Theker revenue and credibility in manufacturing at scale.
Theker’s bet is that general-purpose hardware, not specialized arms, is what factories need next. If Inditex and Samsung are any indication, the industry agrees.
Source: Theker just raised $85M to build the factory robot that doesn't specialize in anything
Domain: techcrunch.com
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