Agnelli family office invests in robotics perception startup Lyte

Exor Ventures, the venture capital arm of Italy’s Agnelli family, has participated in a $107 million funding round for Lyte, a Mountain View-based startup building perception systems for robotics and Physical AI. Lyte emerged from stealth at CES 2026, where its flagship product LyteVision — which integrates advanced 4D sensing, RGB imaging, and motion awareness into a unified platform for autonomous machines — won Best of Innovation in Robotics. The company was founded by Alexander Shpunt, Arman Hajati, and Yuval Gerson, the key architects behind Apple’s depth-sensing technologies; CEO Shpunt previously co-founded and served as CTO of PrimeSense, the 3D sensing company that powered Microsoft Kinect before its acquisition by Apple in 2013. Other investors in the round include semiconductor entrepreneur Avigdor Willenz’s group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Atreides Management, Key1 Capital, and Venture Tech Alliance.

About Exor: The Agnelli family holding company

Exor NV is the Amsterdam-listed holding company of the Agnelli family, one of Italy’s most prominent industrial dynasties. The firm traces its origins to 1927, when Senator Giovanni Agnelli — founder of Fiat — established Istituto Finanziario Industriale (IFI) to manage his industrial participations. Today, Exor is controlled through the privately held Giovanni Agnelli BV, which represents the extended family and holds approximately 53% of share capital. Under the leadership of Chairman and CEO John Elkann — the grandson of legendary Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli — Exor has grown its Net Asset Value to approximately €33 billion and diversified well beyond its automotive roots. The portfolio now spans controlling or significant stakes in Ferrari, Stellantis, CNH Industrial, Juventus FC, Philips, The Economist, Christian Louboutin, and Italian media group GEDI. In recent years, Elkann has increasingly emphasized technology and healthcare investments; in 2022, Exor launched VENTO, an Italy-focused seed initiative led by Diyala D’Aveni, as part of its broader Exor Ventures program targeting next-generation companies.

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Article Source: Businesswire, 07.01.2026