Unchained Robotics secures €8.5M to democratize factory automation

German automation startup Unchained Robotics has closed an €8.5 million Series A funding round led by Direttissima Growth Partners, with participation from Navivo Capital, Future Industry Ventures, vent.io, and D11Z.Ventures, bringing total funding to €16.2 million.

Founded in 2019 by Kevin Freise and Mladen Milicevic in Paderborn, the company tackles a persistent challenge in European manufacturing: making industrial robotics accessible to smaller enterprises that lack technical expertise or large budgets. Over 100 factories across Germany and Europe now rely on Unchained Robotics' solutions, which claims to reduce robot deployment times from weeks to hours.

The startup's MalocherBot system runs on LUNA OS, a standardized operating system that transforms complex industrial automation into smartphone-simple interfaces. Rather than forcing companies into proprietary ecosystems, the platform integrates robots from multiple manufacturers, allowing businesses to choose components that fit their specific needs without programming knowledge.

The fresh funding will accelerate international expansion, particularly into the U.S. market, where Unchained Robotics recently partnered with Albéa Group for packaging and palletizing automation. As European manufacturers face mounting automation pressures amid labor shortages, platforms like LUNA OS represent a shift toward democratizing technologies traditionally reserved for large corporations.

Sources: EU-Startups, Tech.eu, Silicon Canals, Crunchbase