Robot Financing & Automation Equipment Leasing
Cobots, AMRs, automated forklifts, floor scrubbers — and the emerging wave of humanoid robots. Lease or finance the entire project, hardware through integration, as one fixed monthly payment. Faster than SBA, structured around Section 179, with approvals for the deals banks decline.
What We Finance
If it automates a task and shows up on a vendor quote, it can almost certainly be financed — including everything it takes to stand the system up.
Cobots & Robotic Arms
Collaborative arms (UR, Doosan, Fanuc CRX), end-of-arm tooling, vision, palletizing and machine-tending cells, welding and assembly automation.
AMRs & Automated Material Handling
Autonomous mobile robots, automated and self-driving forklifts, AGVs, conveyors, ASRS, and warehouse pick-and-pack automation.
Service & Facility Robots
Autonomous floor scrubbers and sweepers, janitorial and security robots, and other commercial service automation for facilities and retail.
Humanoid & Emerging Robots
The new wave of general-purpose humanoid platforms for material handling, loading, and repetitive line work. New category, real financing.
Production Machinery
CNC, laser, press brakes, injection molding, packaging lines — the conventional equipment automation usually plugs into.
The Whole Project, Not Just the Box
Installation, integration engineering, safety guarding, software and licensing, freight, and operator training — wrapped into one financed amount.
Lease & Finance vs. SBA vs. Cash
Three ways to pay for automation. We model all three and place the deal where it fits — often a mix.
Equipment Lease / Finance
Fastest · 100% of project
- Speed: app-only to ~$250K, funds in days
- Collateral: the equipment itself
- Covers: hardware + install + integration + training
- Down: $0–10%, preserves working capital
- Best when: speed matters, the deal is unusual, or a bank said no
SBA 7(a)
Cheapest rate if you qualify
- Speed: 30–90 days to close
- Collateral: often blanket lien / real estate
- Covers: equipment + working capital + more
- Down: typically 10%+
- Best when: you qualify, can wait, and want the lowest rate
Cash
No financing cost
- Speed: immediate
- Collateral: n/a
- Covers: whatever you write the check for
- Down: 100%
- Best when: idle capital outweighs its return in the business
Many operators finance the automation to keep SBA capacity free for real estate or an acquisition — and to claim Section 179 while spreading the payments. We'll show you the after-tax cost of each path.
The Section 179 Play
Section 179 lets a business deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment in the year it's placed in service — rather than depreciating it over many years. The annual cap adjusts yearly and sits north of $1M.
Pair that deduction with a $1-buyout equipment lease and the move gets interesting: you can write off the equipment this year while paying for it over several years. In year one, the deduction can exceed what you've actually paid out.
Illustration only — not tax advice. Limits, eligibility, and lease-structure treatment vary; confirm with your tax advisor.
Illustrative example
(~60-mo $1-buyout, illustrative)≈ $108,000
Finance 100% of the Project — Not Just the Hardware
With automation, the robot is often less than half the real cost. Integration, guarding, tooling, software, freight, and training are the rest — and a bank line usually won't touch the soft costs. Equipment finance wraps the entire deployment into one number. You stand up a working, producing system without draining the cash you need to run the business while it ramps.
Talk Through Your ProjectHow an Automation Deal Gets Done
Send the Vendor Quote
Share the equipment quote and the basics on your business. We'll tell you fast whether it's app-only or needs a full package, and a realistic rate and term range.
We Package & Place It
We build the file — quote, deployment plan, financials — and take it to the lessors most likely to fund your equipment category on the structure you want (lease vs. $1-buyout vs. FMV).
Approve, Sign, Fund
You pick the offer. The lessor pays your vendor, the system gets installed, and you start one monthly payment — often within days of a signed quote on smaller deals.
Robot & Automation Financing — FAQ
How do you finance a humanoid robot?
The same way you finance any production asset: as an equipment lease or equipment-finance agreement, where the robot (and the install, integration, and training around it) is the collateral and you pay one fixed monthly amount. Because humanoid and mobile robots are new, banks rarely have a box for them — so these deals route to specialty equipment lessors who underwrite the cash flow and the deployment, not just the resale value of the hardware. We package the deal — vendor quote, deployment plan, business financials — and take it to lessors who are actively funding robotics. Most structures run 24–72 months with a $1-buyout or fair-market-value purchase option at the end.
What is cobot financing and how does it work?
Cobot financing is an equipment lease or loan against a collaborative robot — a UR, Doosan, Fanuc CRX, or similar arm — plus its end-of-arm tooling, safety scanners, integration, and programming. You get the cobot working on the line now and spread the cost over its productive life instead of paying cash up front. A typical $80K–$200K cobot cell finances over 36–60 months. Approvals are fast (often 24–72 hours on app-only deals under ~$250K) because the lessor is underwriting the productivity case, not requiring real estate collateral the way an SBA deal might.
How is automation equipment leasing different from an SBA loan?
Speed, collateral, and what qualifies. SBA 7(a) can fund equipment too, but it underwrites the whole business, often wants real-estate or blanket-lien collateral, and runs 30–90 days to close. Automation equipment leasing underwrites the equipment and the deployment, is frequently app-only up to ~$250K, and can fund in days. SBA is usually cheaper on rate for a borrower who qualifies and can wait; leasing wins on speed, on 100%-of-project-cost funding (install and integration included), on preserving SBA capacity for real estate or acquisitions, and on getting a "yes" when a bank says no. We model both and tell you which actually fits the deal.
Can the install, integration, and training be financed too — or just the hardware?
The full project. One of the biggest advantages of equipment finance over a bank line is that soft costs — installation, integration engineering, safety guarding, tooling, software/licensing, freight, and operator training — can be wrapped into the same lease as the hardware. That matters with automation, where integration can run 40–80% of the hardware cost. You finance one number, pay one monthly payment, and don't drain working capital to stand the system up.
What is Section 179 and how does it apply to robots and automation?
Section 179 of the IRS code lets a business deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment in the year it's placed in service, rather than depreciating it over many years. The annual deduction cap adjusts yearly and is north of $1M. When you pair a Section 179 deduction with a $1-buyout equipment lease or finance agreement, you can often write off the equipment this year while paying for it over several years — the deduction can exceed your payments in year one. The treatment depends on the lease structure (a true tax lease is treated differently than a $1-buyout) and your tax situation, so confirm the specifics with your tax advisor. We structure the financing with the outcome you're after in mind.
How fast can automation equipment financing close?
Application-only deals (generally under ~$250K) are frequently approved in 24–72 hours and funded within a few business days of a signed vendor quote. Larger deals that need full financial packages run one to three weeks. Either way it's materially faster than SBA — which is exactly why operators use leasing when a vendor slot, a production deadline, or a Section 179 year-end is driving the timeline.
Do you finance startups, new automation vendors, or deals a bank already declined?
Often, yes. The lessor network we work with includes funders who specialize in newer businesses, thin-file borrowers, and emerging equipment categories that traditional banks won't touch yet — including mobile robots (AMRs), automated forklifts, floor-care robots, and humanoid platforms. A bank "no" is usually about the bank's box, not the deal's economics. We re-package and place it where the box fits.
Should I lease or buy automation equipment?
It depends on how long the equipment stays useful, your tax position, and what you'd do with the cash otherwise. Lease/finance when you want to preserve working capital, deploy now, keep SBA capacity free for real estate or an acquisition, or take advantage of Section 179 while spreading payments. Pay cash when you have idle capital and the after-tax cost of financing outweighs the return on keeping that cash deployed in the business. We'll run the comparison both ways — including the Section 179 and depreciation effects — before you commit.