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Artificial Intelligence and other technologies like Neural Networking and Big Data usually snatch the spotlight. However, robotics is a crucial aspect of the future we are headed towards and the companies working in this domain, especially startups, always have something fresh and exciting to offer. There are a plethora of startups in the robotics space but only a few of them have made a mark on the startup scene in Europe. Additionally, these companies are working on different parts of the robotics industry, which ranges from enterprise software to health robotics and to robotics transportation. Here are the top 10 successful robotics startup from Europe, courtesy of Dealroom.co, which you should know about in 2019.
Softomotive (United Kingdom)
Founders: Argyris Kaninis and Marios Stavropoulos
Funding: €22.23M
The UK-based robotic process automation (RPA) company Softomotive was founded in 2005 and it has been on an upward growth trajectory ever since. Last september, the company raised around €22M in its Series A funding round led by Grafton Capital. As per dealroom.co, the firm valuation stands somewhere between €89M – €133.6M. Softomotive provides a Windows desktop automation tool called WinAutomation, which is said to used by more than 7,000 companies worldwide.
Magazino (Germany)
Founder: Frederik Brantner
Funding: €20.1M
Magazino is a Munich-based robotics startup that secured €20.1 million last year in February with Körber Group, in participation with Zalando, Cellcom, and Fiege Logistics. The company produces automated robots that are employed in intralogistics. For example, it uses robots in warehousing, assembly and order picking. It’s current valuation is at €80M- €121M. Magazino’s highlight offering os the mobile order picking robot TORU that is equipped with sensors and 3D cameras. The bot can understand its surroundings and pick up objects in front of it.
Aldebaran Robotics (France)
Founder: Bruno Maisonnier
Funding: €18.5M
Aldebaran Robotics was one of the most promising robotics startup in France and we say ‘was’ because it was acquired by Softbank Group for €89 Million and renamed to SoftBank Robotics. The company still lives and is working on its offerings, which are line of programmable, voice, speech, and face recognising small-scale humanoid robots. The company’s automated assistant lineup include the Pepper and NAO robots. Nao is a 58 cm tall humanoid robot that is aimed to serve as a friendly companion, which can not only move but also hear, recognise and talk to human. Pepper can also do everything NAO is capable of and is said to also reacts to a human’s emotions while moving and living autonomously.
Exotec Solutions (France)
Founder: Renaud Heitz
Funding: €18.3M
The French startup Exotec Solutions builds automated robots to optimize the e-commerce warehousing process. The company recently raised €15 million in funding from Iris Capital and its existing investors, 360 Capital Partners and Breega. With a valuation between €60M – €90M, the company’s lineup consists of only one robotic machine called Skypods, which is a bot that can carry a standardized box with payload of 30Kg and bring it back to a human operator. The thing to note is that the Skypods don’t just move horizontally, but also vertically as Exotec Solutions provides specialised racks and stations to enable the working of Skypods.
Flyability (Switzerland)
Founders: Adrien Briod and Patrick Thevoz
Funding: €16.2M
Launched in 2014, Flyability quickly managed to established itself as a Swiss startup to watch out for. The company manufactures collision-tolerant drone Elios, which is designed for inspecting and exploring indoor and other places that were previously inaccessible via drones. Flyability recently announced that it secured €9.8M in its Series B funding that was led by ETF Partners with Swisscom Ventures, The Dow Chemical Company, GoBeyond, and MKS Alternative Investments. Its valuation currently stands at €39M – €58.7M.
ecoRobotix (Switzerland)
Founders: Aurelien G. Demaurex and Steve Tanner
Funding: €11.8M
Another Swiss robotics startup ecoRobotix aims at bringing in the next green revolution with its robots that can identify and remove weeds from farming crops. The startup raised € 9.0 m in its last round of funding that was led by Capagro and BASF Venture Capital, laong with 4FO Ventures and private investors from Business Angels Switzerland (BAS) and investiere. With its valuation at around €36M – €54M, the company aims to expand its services to key European countries.
Robopolis (France)
Founder: Jérôme Damelincour
Acquisition amount: €125M
Based out of France, Robopolis made service robots for educational establishments, homes, and professional environment. It was acquired by the creators of Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, iRobot, in July 2017 in a deal worth €125M. Robopolis was the exclusive distributor of iRobot products. Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot said in a statement, “The Robopolis team has been instrumental in establishing iRobot as the leading consumer robotics brand in Western Europe. We look forward to them formally joining iRobot and working together to ensure continued growth.”
Robart (Austria)
Founders: Harold Artés and Michael Schahpar
Funding: €9.6M
The Austria based robotics startup Robart develops autonomous AI for consumer robots with a unique Smart Home functionality. To make homes smarter with its mobile service robots, the company raised €6M in its B-round and its valuation stands at €24M- €36M. The latest round of funding was led by CM-CIC Innovation and was joined by the company’s existing investors Innovacom, Robert Bosch Venture Capital and SEB Alliance. The company’s IoT connected robots make use of artificial intelligence and navigation that enables the bots to understand their surroundings and serve users better.
Emotech (United Kingdom)
Founders: Chelsea Chen, Hongbin Zhuang and Jan Medvesek
Funding: €9.1M
The UK based robotics startup Emotech developed Olly, which it claims is the world’s First robot with personality. While the last round of funding for the company happened three years ago, it raised more than €8.9M in Series A funding to continue working on its prototype robot assistant. The company’s valuation stands at €35.6M – €53.4M and the latest finding round observed investment from Alliance Capital and lead investor Lightning Capital.
Reach Robotics (United Kingdom)
Founders: Chris Beck, John Rees, Silas Adekunle, and Arnaud Didey
Funding: €6.9M
Reach Robotics is a Bristol-based startup that specialises in robotics, mobile gaming and Augmented Reality. The company raised €6.67M in its Series-A funding that was co-led by Korea Investment Partners (KiP) and existing investor IGlobe. It was also joined in funding by Kin Yat, London Venture Partners, NCSOFT, Passion Capital, Qualcomm Ventures and Hardware Club. Founded back in 2013 by Silas Adekunle (CEO), Chris Beck (CTO) and John Rees (COO) the startup’s first consumer product is MekaMon, a battlebot that uses AR and can be controlled via a smartphone app. Reach Robotics is valued between € 26.7M – € 40M.
Stay tuned to Silicon Canals for more updates in the tech startup world.
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