Gianluca Cesari
Deep tech entrepreneur · Roboticist · Investor

Taking hard technology from the lab to the real world.

I co-founded Sevensense, an ETH spin-off in autonomous robotics, and took it from a university lab to acquisition by ABB. Today I invest in and advise founders building the next generation of deep tech.

Portrait of Gianluca Cesari
// What I do

Building and backing deep tech

Founder & operator

Building deep tech companies

I build and scale companies that turn hard technology into products the world actually uses — from core technology and first hires to go-to-market, fundraising, and exit.

Angel & advisor

Backing deep tech founders

Investing in and advising early-stage deep tech and robotics teams. Venture Scout at EWOR, and a founding board member of the Pizzatech community of Italian tech founders in Switzerland.

// Track record

From an ETH lab to acquisition

2024 — 2026

Global Sales Manager · Sevensense by ABB

Drove the commercial integration of Sevensense into ABB and took a new, post-acquisition product line to market across global enterprise accounts.

2019 — 2024

Co-founder & CBDO · Sevensense Robotics

Scaled the company to 50 people with 1,000+ robots deployed worldwide, running 24/7 in factories and warehouses. Acquired by ABB in January 2024 after multiple competing offers, including from a US Big Tech company. Owned sales, business strategy, product marketing and communications through scale-up and exit.

2018 — 2019

Co-founder & Autonomous Navigation Lead · Sevensense

Incubated at Wyss Zurich. Led a team of four to build the foundations of the autonomous-navigation technology that became Sevensense's core product.

2014 — 2018

Robotics research & R&D · ETH Zürich · UC Berkeley · UZH · ABB

Path planning and control at ETH's Autonomous Systems Lab; scenario MPC for autonomous driving at UC Berkeley's MPC Lab; drone development at UZH's Robotics & Perception Group; human-robot collaboration at ABB Corporate Research.

Education

MSc Robotics, Systems & Control · ETH Zürich

BSc Automation Engineering, University of Bologna & Tongji University Shanghai — AlmaTong double degree on a full scholarship.

// Media

Talks, podcasts & press

// Contact

Let's talk deep tech, building, or investing.

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Zürich, Switzerland
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