Robotics startups pitching for capital capture the attention of international investors at Automatica

Investors were looking for unique investment opportunities when they attended a special edition of?the Odense Investor Summit ?in Munich, Germany. They heard pitches from some of the most promising European robotics startups, seeking a total of EUR 33,867,000 to scale their companies: AIM Robotics, Noyes Technologies GmbH, Audite Robotics, Toposens GmbH, Smooth Robotics, KOGENA Sp. z o.o., sewts GmbG, eROBOT, j.s.a., Spin Robotics, Unchained Robotics GmbH, Light Code Photonics Oü, Fynbo Robotics, Trendlog, and SMELA GmbH.

Automation and robotics are changing workplaces and society everywhere. Fourteen startups from six countries are aiming to address various challenges and problems with their inventions.

According to the International Federation of Robotics, Germany, Sweden and Denmark are among the top 10 most automated countries worldwide, and 11 of the startups selected for the podium at the Odense Investor Summit are based in these countries. In addition, capital-seeking companies from Estonia, Slovakia and Poland were also represented on the stage at Automatica in Munich.

?Usually, the investors and the capital-seeking startups meet up in Denmark in Odense, in Europe's fastest growing robotics environment, for the?Odense Investor Summit. This year the organiser, Invest in Odense, part of the Odense Municipality's scheme to attract business, decided to hold an additional summit in Munich, as a part of the Automatica European tradeshow. A total of 574 exhibitors from 35 countries and more than 28,000 visitors from around 75 countries participated in this intelligent automation and robotics trade fair.

?According to?Robotics World , the past year and a half has exploded in investments, with venture capitalists and other investors continuing to pour money into robotics and automation companies. According to?ABI Research , global robotics VC investment reached $5.7 billion in 2021, a 38% year-on-year increase.

The hosts of the summit were the investment managers at Invest in Odense, Rasmus Torpegaard Festersen and Martyna Waliszewska : I am pleased to say that we saw a lot of investors in the audience, and they were enthusiastic and very focused on what was happening on stage. So, I am optimistic and happy with the outcome, and it was great to showcase the companies and their potential. We were full to capacity with other attendees standing, so it was a terrific turnout,?said Martyna Waliszewska.

We brought the concept of the Odense Investor Summit to a new, international audience, presenting the startups which, in our opinion, are the most investor ready. In terms of technologies from Odense, naturally, we saw a lot of end-of-arm-tooling for cobots and mobile robots. But we also saw several sensors for autonomous robots and companies working with the software and data side of robot management.

In case you missed the Odense Investor Summit in Munich, you can see a recording of some of the pitches in this?video . All the pitch decks are available on?Dealum . Investors can also participate and receive the most relevant, tailored investment cases and stay up to date with the deal flow on this?portal . At the end of this article, you will find a brief description of each of the 14 innovative companies presenting their company at Automatica's Startup Arena.

These 14 robot and automation companies are ready for investors

Lightcode Photonics ?builds the world's first software-defined 3D camera for robots to see the world and navigate safely. Service robots could take care of routine tasks from parcel delivery to lawn mowing for us only if they could see better in 3D. The market is eagerly waiting for a step down in price and step up in functionality to make the autonomous operations widely accessible.

?For the manufacturing industry, plagued by staff shortage and increasing costs, Fynbo Technology ?has developed an automatic system for gripping, which offers fully automatic use of range without human interaction. High mix low volume (HMLV) production requires many adjustments to the production setup and the robot gripper.

Many factories struggle to find the right automation solution. From the first idea to the final implementation, factories take months to years until the final integration and go-to-production.?Unchained Robotics ?provides a platform for factories to discover, compare and integrate robotic solutions into factories.

Automating processes still pose enormous challenges when it comes to processing easily deformable materials.?Sewts GmbH ?provides cutting-edge perception software, pushing the boundaries of robotics in processing easily deformable materials. The intelligent software solution enables countless applications in industrial automation such as handling textiles in industrial laundries or manufacturing garments.

Trendlog ?offers industrial companies a chance to bring a digital side to their business - whether as a tool to monitor the productivity of their manufacturing processes or to provide better service and maintenance to their customers.?

Many industries are facing significant challenges in logistics. Customers demand faster delivery times, but storage space close to the customer is scarce and expensive.?Noyes Technologies ?offers the first ultra-dense and automated nano-storage system on the market: the NoyesStorage.?

Dependencies on global supply chains, shortage of skilled labour, and political tensions drive the need for reshoring manufacturing. Automation is the key driver. However, research is a stumbling block: there is no source for validated information, and the lack of transparency drives cost, effort, and risks for each automation project. The ecosystem builder?andugo.io ?revolutionises industry B2B collaboration to empower regional, competitive manufacturing.

Every day, millions of screws and bolts are mounted in the European manufacturing industry by employees with handheld screwdrivers.?Spin Robotics ’s mission is to remove manual and repetitive tasks during industrial assembly operations by introducing collaborative Plug & Play end-of-arm screwdriver tools for collaborative robots.

Drug-resistant diseases lead to an annual death toll of 700,000 people and are predicted by WHO to reach 10 million yearly by 2050.?AUDITE ROBOTICS ?has identified highly effective non-touch green disinfection technologies implemented onto an autonomous platform.?

There are currently no dispensing solutions that can be easily attached to collaborative robots, which renders it a complex and expensive process to automate. This prevents most companies from automating their dispensing.?Aim Robotics ?make Plug&Play units for cobots to enable flexible automation within dispensing.

Damage costs due to undetected collisions of autonomous vehicles can amount to over EUR 100,000 per factory per annum, because existing sensors are unreliable and there are no solutionson the market.?Toposens ?claims that its sensors can detect the undetectable.

The industry often requires short linear positioning operations in automated production plants, realised mainly through pneumatic actuators. The problems of pneumatic systems are well known: an enormous waste of energy and complex infrastructures due to additional compressed air. With a telescopic electromechanical linear actuator,?SMELA ?offers a compatible solution for replacing pneumatic cylinders, with energy savings of more than 75%.

?Kogena ?is developing the first global, vendor-independent collaborative and industrial robot monitoring platform, which addresses the lack of information about breakdowns & unplanned downtimes of cobots/robots and the inability to measure efficiency and productivity of cobots/robots.

?Costly maintenance of industrial robots creates oil waste, and high oil contamination generates overheating, which cuts the robots' lifetime. In addition, production line downtime cuts revenues.?eROBOT ?focuses on Green Deal Strategy by eliminating oil waste in robotics, providing a robot self-maintenance solution.

Danish robots at Automatica 2022

Considering the size of Denmark, with a population of six million inhabitants, Danish robots and automation solutions were well represented among the exhibitors at Automatica 2022. Visitors could meet?Capra Robotics ,?Kassow Robots ,?Meili Robots ,?JVL ,?Cobot Lift , EffiMat ,?Universal Robots ,?Audite Robotics ,?Enabled Robotics ,?Fynbo Technology, ?Smooth Robotics ,?Spin Robotics ,?Trendlog ,?STRECON ,?Technicon ,?Odense Robotics ,?Invest in Odense , and?OnRobot .?

Denmark's robotics, automation, and drone industries have grown significantly in recent years, and Odense is now home to global market leaders, high-growth startups, and world-leading research. The Odense ecosystem is continuously evolving: Since 2015, more than Euro 900m has been invested in Danish robot companies. During the last decade, Odense has established itself on the robot world map as the home of several high-profile robotics companies with significant global traction and success, including?Universal Robots ,?Mobile Industrial Robots ,?Blue Ocean Robotics ,?and OnRobot .

At Automatica 2022, the well-known Danish robotics guru @Esben ?stergaard held a keynote on the?Future of robotics – beyond the factory floor .?