Forgis, a Zurich-based startup developing software to automate industrial machines, today announced a €3.8 million ($4.5 million) pre-Seed funding round to continue projects underway in the automotive and advanced manufacturing sectors.
The round was led by redalpine, with participation from Massimo Banzi, co-founder of Arduino, and other investors from DeepTech and manufacturing.
“Minimising downtime, maximising throughput, and reducing quality scraps have always been critical challenges for manufacturers,” said Federico Martelli, CEO of Forgis. “But with systems built 40 years ago, factories keep losing millions. We’re bringing state-of-the-art physical AI to the factory floor, where it actually matters.”
The funding round for Forgis comes at a time when European industrial automation and physical-AI startups are drawing sustained investor attention.
In Switzerland, mimic raised €13.8 million to advance dexterous robotic manipulation, reinforcing the country’s growing activity in advanced robotics. Germany also recorded notable rounds with Energy Robotics, which secured €11.5 million for autonomous inspection software, and in.hub, which closed a seven-figure round to expand its plug-and-play IIoT tools. Italy’s Adaptronics added €3.15 million for its electro-adhesive robotic grippers, while in adjacent automation Spain’s HappyRobot raised €37.7 million to scale its AI-driven digital workforce platform.
With over €65 million disclosed across these 2025 rounds, Forgis’ pre-Seed investment sits within a wider European effort to strengthen industrial intelligence, with Switzerland standing out as one of the more active markets this year.
“It’s a revolution built from the inside out,” adds Camilla Mazzoleni, CPO of Forgis. “We’re not replacing legacy systems or industry standards. We plug into what’s already there and upgrade every inefficient step with advanced intelligence”.
Founded in 2025, Forgis develops edge software that makes industrial machines autonomous, collaborative, and intelligent. It connects machines, PLCs, and robots across brands into a unified layer that adapts and evolves production logic, creating self-improving systems reportedly capable of diagnosing and solving inefficiencies autonomously.
Federico Martelli, Camilla Mazzoleni, and Riccardo Maggioni- from ETH Zurich and St. Gallen, ex- Google, Bain, and IBM – founded Forgis to modernise industrial operations by making factories intelligent, collaborative, and flexible. Its software runs “digital engineers” that allegedly improve production performance in real time.
In early pilots with European manufacturers, Forgis has reported configuration times reduced by up to 60%, downtime by 30%, and throughput increases of around 20%.
“We closed in 36 hours because the conviction was mutual,” says Gianmarco Hodel, Investment Manager at redalpine. “This is what Europe needs more of: speed, belief, and boldness.”
According to the company – during the last decade, China’s industrial robot stock grew from 200k to 2 million, 567 per 10 thousand workers surpassing Germany, the US, and the UK combined. Forgis wants to help the West close the industrialisation gap, not through protectionism, but through intelligence.
“We’re bringing production back to the West by adding an intelligent software layer to existing factory ecosystems,” said Riccardo Maggioni, CTO of Forgis. “This way, reshoring becomes the smarter, not the costlier, choice.”
Forgis is already working with IBM and has projects underway in the automotive and advanced manufacturing sectors. The company’s platform integrates with existing systems from vendors such as Siemens and ABB, making complex industrial environments more flexible and efficient.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/11/swiss-startup-forgis-raises-e3-8-million-to-automate-industrial-machines-as-europe-confronts-asias-manufacturing-lead/
