Sereact

University of Stuttgart alumni building Cortex, an AI model that lets industrial robots pick, pack and assemble without task-specific programming; more than 200 systems live in Europe.

Sector: Automation & Robotics
Headquarters: Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg
Founded: 2021
Ownership: Private, venture-backed
Known for: Cortex robot AI model
Website: sereact.ai
Topics: physical AI robot picking vision-language-action warehouse automation Stuttgart

What they do

Sereact builds the software brain for industrial robot arms. Its Cortex model is a vision-language-action model: it takes camera images and instructions and outputs robot motions, and it is designed to run across different robot hardware. The first use case was warehouse picking and packing, where robots must handle thousands of unfamiliar items. Cortex 2, launched in April 2026, adds a world model so the robot can predict the consequences of an action and choose the one most likely to succeed.

Why it matters

Traditional industrial robots are fast and precise but must be programmed for each task, which makes them uneconomic for the variable work found in logistics and smaller production runs. Sereact's approach is to learn from real production rather than mainly from simulation. Sifted reported in April 2026 that more than 200 Sereact systems were live across Europe and had completed more than one billion production picks. Named customers across sources include BMW, Daimler Truck, Mercedes-Benz, PepsiCo, the Dutch retailer Bol, Active Ants and the grocer Knuspr. New target tasks include assembling parts under tension and fitting windscreen wipers without scratching a car.

Products to know

Cortex and Cortex 2: the robot foundation models.
Turnkey picking cells for e-commerce and automotive logistics.

The German angle

Sereact was founded in 2021 by Ralf Gulde and Marc Tuscher, school friends who both studied at the University of Stuttgart; the university credits its technology-transfer support with the company's start. Stuttgart is a logical home, close to Germany's car makers and to the Cyber Valley AI research cluster. In April 2026 Sereact raised a 110 million US dollar Series B led by Headline, with Bullhound Capital, Felix Capital and Daphni joining earlier backers Air Street Capital, Creandum and Point Nine, and announced a first US office in Boston. Stuttgart remains the central base.

Sources

Stories

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