Why physical AI: robotics adoption in Europe and Central and Eastern Europe
The shift has already started.
Annual industrial robot installations more than doubled in ten years.
This is no longer a question of whether physical work becomes automated. The installed base is already scaling.
Source: International Federation of Robotics, World Robotics 2025.
The buyers are scaling with it.
Robotics has moved from pilot programs into operating infrastructure.
Amazon grew its deployed robot fleet from more than 750,000 robots in 2023 to its one-millionth robot by June 2025.
More than 90% of DHL warehouses have at least one automation or digitalization solution, following more than €1 billion invested in contract-logistics automation over three years.
Sources: Amazon, 2023 and June 2025. DHL Group, May 2025.
Capital is following.
95.1% of disclosed robotics capital in H1 2026 went into the ten largest rounds. The category is attracting serious capital. Much of it is arriving once companies are already large enough to be obvious.
Source: Tech.eu Funding Explorer, data as of 24 August 2026.
Capital arrives once the company is already obvious.
The category is funded. The earliest stage is not.
This is where CEE becomes interesting.
Across the seven CEE markets examined by CTP, 25% of tertiary graduates come from STEM programs, matching the EU-27 average.
Those same CEE markets all rank among the top 15 European countries by manufacturing employment share.
Theengineers,thefactoriesandthesupplychainsarealreadyhere.Earlycapitalistheonelayerthatnevershowedup.
Source: CTP, Central and Eastern Europe: A Business-Smart Region, April 2025.
The companies keep coming. The early money does not.
Ninedealsintenareearlystage.Underathirdofthemoneyis.
More than 90% of CEE deals are still early stage. Their share of the region's invested capital fell from 41% in 2024 to 28% in 2026 year to date, while capital became increasingly concentrated in the largest rounds.
Source: Vestbee analysis using Vestbee and Dealroom data, July 2026.
The technology is getting bigger than robotics.
Physical AI connects AI with machines that can perceive, decide and act in the real world.
- Factories
- Warehouses
- Logistics
- Infrastructure
- Industrial operations
Why Central and Eastern Europe
Europealreadyhasdemandforautomation.
CEEalreadyhastheengineersandtheindustrialbase.
Earlycapitalstillskipstheregionthatbuildsthemachines.
PhysicalAISyndicateexiststoconnectinvestorswithEuropeanroboticsandPhysicalAIcompaniesearlier,withCentralandEasternEuropeatthecenterofthatopportunity.
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