Robotics Raises: Nyobolt, Online Oceans, LAYN, All3, ROBOTERA

Here are your latest robotics/physical AI/automation rounds for the week of 5/4. What better time to kick off our reoccurring funding roundup than Star Wars Day? Each week we'll highlight the industry's most consequential raises, offer insight into what they mean for the category writ large, and hear directly from the players themselves.

AI and automation startups continue to gobble up investor dollars with seemingly no end in sight. That's great for these companies (and automation on the whole), but keeping track can be difficult. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. These are five recent automation startup funding rounds you’re going to want to dig into:

Nyobolt $60 million, Series C

Many hurdles stand between humanoids and 24/7 warehouse automation. Continuous batteries are one we don't discuss nearly often enough.  British startup Nybolt argues that the traditional batteries many humanoids run on aren’t designed to keep up with future energy needs. The company is addressing the issue with batteries that hold a charge longer and charge faster than existing options to avoid extended downtime.

Nyobolt announced a $60 million Series C round on May 6 that catapulted the company into unicorn territory. The startup’s first customer was logistics automation giant, Symbotic. Nybolt told A3 it has signed on a new unnamed humanoid company and are looking to further expand. 

Online Oceans $5.4 million, Seed Round

Space is generally considered the 'final frontier,' but before then, there's plenty of exploring left to be done in our planet's oceans. While oceans cover the majority of the earth’s surface — and play a critical role in both global commerce and defense — data on these massive regions remains scarce. 

Online Oceans designed autonomous robot named Scout that can spend months cruising the seven seas on its own, collecting weather and subsea data and transmitting it back via satellite. The British company announced a £4 million ($5.4 million) seed round on April 29 led by Seraphim Space and gets credit for coining the term “ocean-as-a-service.”

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LAYN $1 million, Pre-Seed

It’s not often that we hear of automation startups coming out of Egypt, which made Layn’s recent pre-seed funding round stand out immediately. The Cairo-based startup built a fully autonomous system for designing and 3D printing concrete projects. The company also makes and designs its own concrete-making materials.

LAYN was founded in 2024 by Zeyad Zein and Mohamed El Hashemy, who were frustrated with the speed and rigidity of the region's existing processes for getting concrete. Traditionally, concrete is imported to the Middle East, so bringing everything in one place speeds up the process, while cutting emissions. The company announced a $1 million pre-seed round led by Dar Ventures on April 30. 

All3 $24 million, Seed Round

The construction dis ripe and ready for automation. European startup All3 is looking to automate the whole process from the initial design phase to the actual building using robotic factories to make parts and Mantis, an autonomous robot for onsite assembling. 

The startup announced a $25 million seed round on April 29, led by RTP Global with participation from SuperSeed and Begin Capital, among others. Andrey Lakalin, the company’s head of business development, told A3 that this round will be used to help the company move from development to commercial deployment. The company plans to break ground on its first project in Germany later this year. 

ROBOTERA $200 million

China’s humanoid robot industry continues to run laps around the U.S. in many respects. Beijing-based ROBOTERA, a full-stack humanoid company that sells multiple humanoid robot models and dexterous robot hands, just raised its second funding round of 2026. 

The company announced $200 million funding on April 27 that was led by S.F. Express, a Chinese private express delivery company. This round came less than two months after the startup announced a CN¥1 billion ($146 million) round of strategic financing from investment groups and companies in the region.