mimic

Spotlight

ETH Zurich spinout building human-level dexterous hands and the AI to run them

Startup · Pilot · Humanoid startup · Zurich, Switzerland · Founded 2024 · mimicrobotics.com

Profile

mimic is an ETH Zurich spinout developing dexterous robot hands and physical-AI models for manufacturing and logistics. It raised a $2.5M pre-seed led by Founderful in May 2024 and a $16M seed in Nov 2025, and won CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick in Feb 2025, with support from Innosuisse and ESA BIC Switzerland. It launched the 15-DOF M1 hand and U1 data-collection exoskeleton in Jul 2026. In Aug 2026 it introduced FLUX-mimic (with Black Forest Labs), in testing with Audi; in Oct 2026 it won XTC's Excellence in Applied AI Award.

Notes Elvis Nava became CEO in August 2026 after serving as CTO, according to his LinkedIn profile; co-founder Stefan Weirich was named CEO as recently as September 2025, and we found no company announcement of the change.

Also listed as a component supplier.

Leadership

• Elvis Nava, Co-founder & CEO
• Stefan Weirich, Co-founder
• Stephan-Daniel Gravert, Co-founder & CPO

Flagship robots

• M1 hand Dexterous hand
  15-DOF tendon-driven hand (Jul 2026)
• U1 Component
  Wearable data-collection exoskeleton

Funding and valuation

Trademarks

No US filings since 2025 (last checked Oct 15, 2026).

Source: USPTO Trademark Search, matched on the company’s legal names. Rechecked on the 1st and 15th of each month. A filing shows intent to use a name in the US, not a launched product.

Competitors

Companies with overlapping products. Direct = same customers and same job; Adjacent = overlapping technology or market, different focus.

• Robot Era

  Direct competitor

  CNHumanoid startup

  Both sell dexterous robot hands as products: Robot Era makes the STAR1 humanoid and XHAND dexterous hands, while mimic develops dexterous robot hands and the AI to run them.

  Sources (2)

  • mimic (company website)
  • Robot Era (company website)

• Sharpa

  Direct competitor

  SGHumanoid startup

  Both sell dexterous robot hands as products: Sharpa makes the SharpaWave tactile dexterous hand and robots that run a Dairy Queen store, while mimic develops dexterous robot hands and the AI to run them.

  Sources (2)

  • mimic (company website)
  • Sharpa (company website)

• Genesis AI

  Adjacent competitor

  FRRobot foundation model

  Both pair dexterous hands with AI for robot manipulation: Genesis AI builds a robot-brain model and now its own hand and the Eno robot, while mimic develops dexterous robot hands and the AI to run them.

  Sources (2)

  • mimic (company website)
  • Genesis AI (company website)

Recent news

• Oct 1, 2026 — Wins XTC Excellence in Applied AI Award in Vienna Extreme Tech Challenge
• Aug 13, 2026 — Introduces FLUX-mimic Video-Action Model; testing with Audi Automation.com
• Jul 15, 2026 — Launches M1 15-DOF hand and U1 wearable The Robotics Media
• Nov 3, 2025 — Raises $16M seed led by Elaia GlobeNewswire
• Feb 21, 2025 — Wins CHF 150,000 in the third stage of Venture Kick Startupticker
• May 7, 2024 — Raises $2.5M pre-seed led by Founderful, with another.vc and Tiny.vc Tech.eu

Sources

• mimic robotics raises $16 million to deploy frontier physical AI (GlobeNewswire) (Nov 3, 2025)
• mimic Robotics launches M1 hand and U1 wearable exoskeleton (The Robotics Media) (Jul 15, 2026)
• mimic raises $2.5M to challenge US robotics dominance with AI-driven humanoid hands (Tech.eu) (May 7, 2024)
• Meet The Swiss Start-Up Taking On The Tech Giants In Robotics And AI (Forbes) (May 7, 2024)
• Mimic Robotics wins third stage Venture Kick (Startupticker) (Feb 21, 2025)
• Mimic Robotics - ESA Commercialisation Gateway (ESA) (Mar 19, 2026)
• Swiss Robotics Startup Mimic Raises $16M to Bring Human-Level Dexterity to Factory Floors (Deep Tech Nation Switzerland) (Nov 3, 2025)
• mimic robotics Introduces FLUX-mimic, Bringing Frontier Video-Action Models to the Factory Floor at Audi (Automation.com) (Aug 13, 2026)
• Mimic Robotics Wins XTC's Excellence in Applied AI Award in Vienna (Extreme Tech Challenge) (Oct 1, 2026)
• mimic: Developing Human-Level Dexterity for the Next Era of Industrial Automation (ETH AI Center) (Sep 2025)
• Elvis Nava, Co-Founder & CEO at mimic (LinkedIn profile, web search snippet) (Oct 11, 2026)

Confidence: medium.

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