Munich, February 16, 2026 – Sitegeist, a Munich-based construction robotics startup, has raised €4M in a pre-seed funding round. The funding will enable Sitegeist to rapidly expand its team, hiring and scale the deployment of its automated, AI-enabled robots on real-world construction sites, helping concrete renovation companies overcome acute capacity constraints.
Automated robots for unstructured, real-world construction sites Across Europe, aging bridges, tunnels, parking structures, and public buildings urgently require renovation. In Germany alone, the infrastructure repair backlog totals hundreds of billions of euros (KfW, 2025), with similar challenges across North America and beyond. At the same time, a severe labor shortage is slowing progress: physically demanding tasks such as concrete renovation are costly, hard to staff, and difficult to scale. Unlike conventional automation approaches that rely on pre-existing 3D models or standardized site conditions, Sitegeist’s automated robots operate directly on existing structures. Using advanced perception, AI-based decision support, and adaptive control, they can handle complex geometries and varying material conditions without prior digitization, enabling immediate deployment on real-world renovation sites. “Infrastructure renovation is hitting a critical bottleneck, especially in concrete repair,” said Dr. Lena-Marie Pätzmann, Co-founder and CEO of sitegeist. “Today, deteriorated concrete is still removed using manually-intensive processes that are hard to scale. We’re tackling this challenge with the first ever specialized automated and modular robots that can perform concrete renovation directly on existing structures. We’re thrilled to have won such renowned investors who share our mission. This backing enables us to move faster in bringing automated renovation to critical infrastructure worldwide.” In addition to the lead investors b2venture and OpenOcean, also well-known backers from the industry such as Alexander Schwörer und Mario Wettengel are invested, as well as further well-known angel investors, including: Verena Pausder, Lea-Sophie Cramer, Andreas Kupke, Sven Degener, Inga vom Holtz and Paolo Oppelt.
Concrete renovation is a particularly complex and capacity-constrained segment of infrastructure maintenance. To repair damaged structures, deteriorated concrete must be selectively removed using high-pressure water or abrasive blasting, a process that requires precision, experience, and constant supervision to avoid damaging the steel reinforcement underneath. Today, this work is largely manual and highly site-specific. Driven by shortages of qualified labor, low efficiency, and increasing safety requirements, construction companies are unable to meet strong demand and are often fully booked months or even years in advance, leading to significant project backlogs. Sitegeist addresses these challenges with modular, automated robots purpose-built for unstructured construction environments. This significantly increases throughput and quality while reducing rework.
Sitegeist works directly with concrete renovation construction companies on site, with a modular platform designed to expand across the renovation value chain over time. Going forward, the company aims to collaborate with additional test sites, co-development partners, and talent to further validate and refine its robots. “The way concrete is removed today by workers is devastating and extremely arduous. This is the perfect case for augmenting humans with robots,” said Florian Schweitzer, Partner at b2venture. “What sets Sitegeist apart is its team, which will literally go through walls to bring autonomy into highly unstructured, real-world construction environments. The team combines deep robotics expertise with a pragmatic understanding of how renovation actually works on site, which gives them the potential to define this category. ”The most exciting AI-powered robots today don’t have fingers and thumbs,” said Sam Hields, Partner at OpenOcean. “Sitegeist’s non-humanoid robots are purpose-built to solve real-world problems, and their ability to operate in harsh environments with superhuman strength and autonomy is genuinely game- changing. This is exactly the kind of task we want AI to automate: a manual, expensive process with low talent availability. With an aging population and a skills shortage in physical industries like construction, robotics will help us refit our infrastructure for the future – and TUM and Munich have proven this is the one of the best places to build teams to do it.” Sitegeist is a spin-out from Technical University Munich (TUM) originating from a renowned robotics research institute led by Prof. Matthias Althoff. Sitegeist was founded by Dr. Lena-Marie Pätzmann from the University of St. Gallen as well as Claus Carste, Julian Hoffmann and Nicola Kolb, who met at TUM during their studies and through the Munich Startup ecosystem.
About Sitegeist
Sitegeist is a Munich-based construction robotics startup developing automated, AI-enabled, modular robots for infrastructure renovation. The company automates tough, labor-intensive construction tasks such as concrete removal and abrasive blasting, helping construction companies increase their productivity, improve working conditions, and tackle the massive renovation backlog. Sitegeist was founded by a team of four co-founders with strong roots in robotics, AI, and engineering: Dr. Lena-Marie Pätzmann (CEO), Julian Hoffmann (CTO), Nicola Kolb (COO), and Claus Carste (CPO). Three of the founders bring deep technical expertise in robotics and artificial intelligence, complemented by a business-focused founder with a strong commercialization background. Founded as a spin-out from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Sitegeist emerged from the same robotics research environment as RobCo and is academically rooted in the work of Prof. Matthias Althoff. By combining cutting-edge robotics and AI with German engineering excellence, Sitegeist aims to address one of the construction industry’s most pressing challenges: scaling infrastructure renovation despite severe labor shortages. About b2venture Founded in 2000, b2venture is one of the most experienced venture capital firms in Europe. The firm backs exceptional founders building transformative technologies and companies across the continent through its early-stage funds and direct investment track. b2venture is pioneering an approach that systematically combines direct and fund investments, supported by a community of more than 350 angel investors – founders, operators, and industry leaders who contribute capital, expertise, and networks to help startups grow. Guided by a conviction-driven and long-term investment philosophy, b2venture builds lasting partnerships with founders, combining capital with deep operational support from its angel community. The portfolio includes DeepL, 1KOMMA5°, Raisin, SumUp, Nelly, and Urban Sports Club, as well as Araris Biotech and Neura Robotics, among others.
About OpenOcean
OpenOcean is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in frontier technologies across Europe, with offices in London and Helsinki. Our mission is to invest in the disruptive, data-driven B2B software that is driving today’s AI revolution. We pride ourselves on building long-term relationships with founders, tracking start-up progress at the earliest stage, and making strategic and impactful investments of up to €6 million – typically at Seed or Series A. OpenOcean’s DNA is rooted in having a deep understanding of the underlying technology and software stacks, which drive the growth of innovative new digital platforms and services. With an entrepreneurial background from building several category-defining software businesses such as MySQL and MariaDB, we work together with founders to build and scale global category-leading companies. OpenOcean’s portfolio includes a range of leading European startups such as Binalyze, Booksy, IQM, MindsDB, Supermetrics, and Truecaller.
About UnternehmerTUM Funding for Innovators
UnternehmerTUM Funding for Innovators is the pre-seed fund of UnternehmerTUM, Europe’s foremost center for innovation and business creation. It invests early, often as the first institutional investor, in deep tech founders building category-defining companies. The fund specializes in hard tech and the code that powers it, backing scalable B2B technologies with billion-euro potential and helping founders move breakthrough science from lab to market. They offer founder-friendly convertible loans and are committed to follow-on investments, ensuring their companies have the resources to scale their ambitions.