Paderborn-based Unchained Robotics has closed an €8.5 million Series A extended funding round to scale its technology internationally and address one of the biggest hurdles in automation: making robots easy to operate through intelligent software.
The round was supported by Direttissima Growth Partners, Navivo Capital, Future Industry Ventures, vent.io, and D11Z.
“We’ve struck a chord with SMEs: everyone is looking for simple and affordable automation solutions that can be implemented quickly, without requiring special expertise,” says Co-founder Mladen Milicevic.
Unchained Robotics was founded in 2019 by Kevin Freise and Mladen Milicevic. The independent automation platform enables clients to find the right automation technology for their manufacturing processes. Its offering includes individually configurable solutions as well as turnkey systems with unified software.
According to Unchained Robotics, automation is often complex, expensive, and difficult to adapt within existing operations. Robots typically need to be programmed manually, often taking weeks before they’re operational. For many smaller companies, this is a major barrier. Unchained Robotics looks to change that.
With its software LUNA OS, Unchained Robotics has launched a standardised control system that integrates robots from various manufacturers into production environments – like an operating system for factory robots, as easy to use as a smartphone.
Their online platform allows companies to search for, find, and integrate the right robots directly into their production lines. Whether it’s palletising or packaging – the company also offers a flexible turnkey solution called the MalocherBot, which can be deployed without specialised knowledge.
More than 300 companies across Europe already use the solution – including names like Vorwerk, Europe‘s largest direct sales company. “Unchained Robotics’ solution allowed us to automate quickly and easily – without any additional programming skills or long ramp-up times,” says Joern Compernass, Managing Director of Vorwerk Logistik.
In addition to its presence in Europe, Unchained Robotics is now accelerating its expansion into the U.S. Across several locations, the company is launching its first large-scale automation partnership with Albéa Group, a leading manufacturers of cosmetic packaging. The automation will include packaging and palletising – with the goal of achieving opex efficiencies and increasing the scalability of local operations.
More than 20 robots have already been deployed in factories, with plans to increase that number to around 70 in the future.
“Unchained Robotics is solving one of the industry’s key structural problems: the lack of standardisation. With its operating system LUNA OS and the modular Malocherbot cell, robotic automation becomes easily scalable – a crucial step for the future of manufacturing and logistics”, says Christopher Hoffmann of Direttissima Growth Partners, lead investor in the current financing round.
According to a study by Stepstone, around 3.7 million workers will leave the German labour market by 2030. Unchained Robotics believes that automation will be essential to keeping businesses competitive – especially in manual tasks like machine loading or palletising.
“We envision a future where AI-powered robotic systems not only take over repetitive tasks but also become increasingly adaptable through continuous learning. LUNA OS forms the crucial bridge between intelligent software and physical automation for this purpose,“ explains Kevin Freise, Co-founder of Unchained Robotics.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/06/german-robotics-company-unchained-robotics-secures-e8-5-million-to-help-clients-find-the-right-automation-technology/
