Inbolt, which gives industrial robots the ability to see, think, and adapt in real time — letting them master any process, part, or station — today announced €11M in funding. The round was led by new investor Shift4Good, a venture capital firm focused on decarbonising transportation and energy, and joined by Bridges Fund Management, a specialist private markets investor focused on the transition to a more sustainable future. Existing investors BNP Paribas Développement and Ora Global also participated, bringing Inbolt’s total funding to €30M.

The capital will fund inbolt’s expansion in the US, where the company opened a Detroit office in 2026, in APAC, and its entry into two new sectors: data centers and electronics manufacturing.

Blind spots on the factory floor

Even in highly automated factories, most industrial robots are effectively blind. They can’t perceive part misalignment, tooling wear, or the small variations that occur naturally on every production line, so when something shifts even slightly out of position, the robot either stalls, throws an error, or produces a defective part. Multiply that across a factory floor and the cost adds up: a 2025 ABB survey of 3,600 industrial leaders found unplanned downtime can cost as much as $500,000 an hour, with 44% reporting equipment-related stoppages at least once a month.

Giving robots sight

Inbolt’s answer is a combination of 3D vision and a hardware-agnostic AI software layer that gives robots the ability to perceive their environment and adjust their control loops in real time. The system can be deployed on both new and existing production lines, allowing manufacturers to upgrade automation without replacing installed equipment and it runs natively on major robot platforms including FANUC, ABB, KUKA, Yaskawa, Comau, and Universal Robots.

Inbolt works across industries including automotive, electronics, and data centers, and is already deployed on 200+ robots in 100+ factories across three continents, with clients including Bosch, Beko, Flex, Ford, Stellantis and Toyota.

Founded in 2019 by Rudy Cohen (CEO), Albane Dersy (COO), and Louis Dumas (CTO), Inbolt is headquartered in Paris.

Recent recognition

Inbolt’s momentum has drawn recent recognition beyond the factory floor. The company was ranked #3 on the Sifted 100: France & Benelux, the Financial Times-backed publication’s annual ranking of the region’s 100 fastest-growing startups, on the strength of a two-year revenue CAGR of over 500%.
Inbolt’s technology was also recently featured by The New York Times, which reported that its deployment helped a Stellantis assembly plant in Detroit become a top performer in the company.

Quotes

“AI is increasingly moving beyond screens and into factories and machines. Inbolt enables robots to be deployed faster and to operate with far greater precision and flexibility in changing environments. We have been impressed by the team’s ability to turn sophisticated technology into a robust solution already deployed across leading global manufacturers in automotive and beyond. Inbolt also illustrates Europe’s ability to convert world-class research into technologies with global industrial relevance. We are pleased to support the team as the company enters its next stage of growth.” – Julien Baumont, Partner, Shift4Good

“There are nearly 5 million industrial robots in factories across the world, mostly running blind. They jam, break and sit idle, wasting energy and time. Inbolt’s physical AI has solved this problem in difficult production environments, not just in lab demos. We’re proud to back Rudy, Albane, Louis and the Inbolt team, as they expand their leading computer vision solutions to manufacturers worldwide.” – Christophe Defert, Partner, Bridges Climate Transition Partners

“Robots have been running blind for fifty years. Fixing that isn’t about better hardware. It’s about giving every robot, regardless of make or model, the intelligence to see and adapt in real time. This round lets us bring that to manufacturers everywhere, not just the ones with the deepest integration budgets.” – Rudy Cohen, Co-founder & CEO, Inbolt