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Zurich-based robotics start-up Mimic has raised $16 million in a seed round led by Elaia and Speedinvest, with participation from Founderful, 1st kind, 10X Founders, 2100 Ventures and the Sequoia Scout Fund.

This seed round brings the company's total funding to over $20 million.

The capital will accelerate development of Mimic’s foundation AI model and humanoid robotic hands, as well as support new deployments with global industrial partners.

Founded in 2024 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich, Mimic is building AI-driven 'dexterous' robotic systems capable of performing complex manual tasks typically handled by human workers. The company combines AI-trained robotic hands with off-the-shelf robot arms, enabling industrial automation without the need for fully humanoid robots.

Stephan-Daniel Gravert, co-founder and CPO at Mimic, said: “Humanoids are exciting, but there aren’t many industrial scenarios where the full-body form factor truly adds value. 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."

The start-up’s technology uses imitation learning to train AI models from real-world human demonstrations. Operators wear Mimic’s data-collection devices while performing their normal work, capturing detailed motion data directly from factory floors.

The resulting models allow robots to autonomously adapt to changing object positions, self-correct and handle real-world disturbances.

Elvis Nava, co-founder and CTO at Mimic, added: “Our general purpose AI models allow us to automate manual labour in a way that simply was not possible before. Thanks to our unique focus on human-like dexterity and human data, we are competitive at the robot foundation model layer as well as the application layer.”

Mimic’s technology is already being piloted by Fortune 500 manufacturers, global automotive firms and multinational logistics providers. The company employs around 25 engineers, researchers and operators, and has received additional non-dilutive funding from Switzerland’s federal innovation agency.

Stefan Weirich, co-founder and CEO at Mimic, commented: “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. Europe has the talent, the infrastructure and the demand, and we’re building the company that brings all of this together.”