German startup Energy Robotics has raised €11.5 million in Series A funding to expand its AI-driven platform for autonomous inspections using robots and drones — a move set to reshape how industrial sites monitor and maintain critical infrastructure.
The round was co-led by Blue Bear Capital and Climate Investment (CI), with additional backing from Futury Capital, Hessen Capital, Kensho VC, and TADTech.
Founded in 2019 in Darmstadt, Energy Robotics develops hardware-agnostic AI software that enables autonomous inspection missions across energy, chemical, and industrial facilities. Its platform integrates with robots and drones from manufacturers like Boston Dynamics, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and DJI, providing customers with flexibility to build mixed robotic fleets.
“This funding round will help us scale autonomy to serve the world’s most critical infrastructure, giving operators greater resilience, safety, and efficiency,” said Marc Dassler, CEO and Co-founder of Energy Robotics. “A shrinking skilled workforce and aging infrastructure have created a perfect storm of operational risk — and automation is the way forward.”
Tackling a Growing Industrial Challenge
Industrial sites — from refineries to chemical plants — are grappling with two major pressures: an aging workforce and decades-old equipment that requires constant monitoring. Energy Robotics addresses these challenges by using autonomous robots and drones to perform hazardous inspections, cutting operational costs by up to 40% and reducing the need for human workers to enter dangerous environments.
The company’s AI analytics engine processes sensor data from visual and thermal scans, gauge readings, and leak detection to generate real-time insights and predictive maintenance alerts. Each inspection automatically updates an Evergreen Digital Twin of the facility, allowing operators to track asset conditions and anticipate failures.
So far, Energy Robotics’ technology has conducted over one million autonomous inspections across five continents, saving more than 32,000 hours of hazardous manual labor for major clients including BASF, BP, Dow Chemical, E.ON, Merck, Repsol, and Shell.
Strategic Momentum in European Robotics
Energy Robotics joins a wave of European robotics firms attracting investor confidence in 2025. Recent funding rounds include ANYbotics (€127M) for four-legged inspection robots, Flybotix (€8.5M) for confined-space drones, and Voliro (€19.8M) for maintenance drones. German peers such as Filics, Unchained Robotics, sensmore, and Sereact have also raised capital this year — highlighting Europe’s growing strength in industrial automation and AI-powered robotics.
“The industrial robotics market has reached an inflection point,” said Cindi Bough, Managing Director at Climate Investment. “Energy Robotics’ AI software orchestrates diverse fleets, integrates with enterprise systems, and delivers actionable insights — all while reducing emissions by detecting leaks early.”
Building Resilient, Climate-Positive Infrastructure
The platform’s LLM-driven mission control allows operators to generate inspection plans via natural language prompts, while its data privacy architecture ensures sensitive industrial data remains within customer-controlled IT systems — a crucial feature for regulated industries.
“The global energy transition depends on infrastructure that’s efficient, safe, and secure,” added Dr. Carolin Funk, Partner at Blue Bear Capital. “Energy Robotics delivers that by combining autonomy, AI, and real-world scalability.”
With fresh capital in hand, Energy Robotics plans to accelerate global deployment of its inspection software, expanding partnerships with energy, utilities, and industrial clients — and positioning itself at the heart of Europe’s rapidly evolving autonomous systems ecosystem.
