Press

Meet our colleague, the robot: Seed financing for service robotics – Start-up ADLATUS ROBOTICS GmbH

January 24, 2017

Ulm-based ADLATUS Robotics targets the new, high-growth market for professional service robotics with innovative products such as the CR700 cleaning robot. To support the development of new products and bolster its sales structure, ADLATUS has obtained seed financing from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg GmbH (MBG).

Whether it’s cleaning large stores, maintaining lawns or providing security services, service robots such as the CR700 cleaning robot showcased by ADLATUS Robotics in 2016 are performing a growing number of tasks, either autonomously or in collaboration with humans. They help to drive down costs – not only at firms active in the facility-management industry, but for end clients from the industrial and retail sectors as well. Mentioned firms are also grappling with a range of other issues, such as a lack of skilled staff, high security requirements, and at times stressful and dangerous working conditions.

Set to be launched this spring, the CR700 service robot independently and autonomously performs cleaning tasks, including for larger areas. Boasting a vast array of connectivity options, the machine is an ideal solution for day-to-day operations. The product’s target group consists of facility-management companies that provide cleaning services on behalf of end customers as well as customers from the industrial and retail sectors.

“Our vision is to play a decisive role in shaping the rapidly growing market for professional service robotics. We are open to new product ideas and business models,” says Matthias Strobel, founder and CEO of ADLATUS Robotics GmbH. “Our products are designed to serve. The cleaning robot’s high level of autonomy, which enables independent application over a longer period of time, its connectivity and its ergonomic user interfaces, both in programming and daily use, are just some of the machine’s USPs,” adds Dr. Siegfried Hochdorfer, founder and CTO of the company.

By providing seed financing, HTGF and MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg help the company develop new products and set up a sales structure. ADLATUS plans to develop, produce and sell additional robot assistants at a later date. The sales structure entails direct sales as well as sales via conventional retailers.”

Commenting on the investment, Lucille Bonnet, Investment Manager at HTGF, says: “The market for professional service robotics is currently undergoing a significant upheaval. With the help of our financing, ADLATUS Robotics will launch a robust and economically appealing solution for industrial and professional environments in 2017. In doing so, ADLATUS is set to not only benefit from the growing acceptance enjoyed by automated assistants, but support this development as well.”

According to Dr. Josef Walek, investment manager at MBG, the experienced start-up team has developed a solid and scalable platform technology for diverse fields of application in a market undergoing highly dynamic growth. “This combination of experience, innovative products and major market potential is what particularly impressed us.”

Contact:
ADLATUS Robotics GmbH
Matthias Strobel Managing
Director
Kässbohrerstr. 19
89077 Ulm
Tel.: +49 731 96 42 78-0
info@adlatus-robotics.com

About Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg GmbH (MBG)
MBG invests in Baden-Württemberg-based SMEs active in a range of industries and acts as the management company of VC Fonds Baden-Württemberg, a venture-capital fund launched by the federal state. The capital provided by VC Fonds Baden-Württemberg and MBG Baden-Württemberg helps to turn innovative ideas into products and services that have a promising future. Its goal is to help young, innovative companies become market and technology leaders. It invests up to EUR 2.5 million in companies. MBG provides seed investments, start-up financing and growth financing for established companies.

MBG is an investment fund that receives public funding. Its function is to improve the financing structure for start-ups and medium-sized companies. This creates the foundation for solid company development and further growth. www.mbg.de

About Seedfonds Baden-Württemberg
Together with High-Tech Gründerfonds, Seedfonds Baden-Württemberg provides start-up or seed-phase investments for young technology companies based in Baden-Württemberg. The fund’s investors include the state of Baden-Württemberg (Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Housing), L-Bank, LBBW Venture Capital GmbH and MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg GmbH.

Contact:
Dr. Josef Walek
MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg GmbH
Werastr. 13-17
70182 Stuttgart
Tel. +49 711 1645-786
Fax +49 711 1645-87786
mailto:josef.walek@mbg.de
www.mbg.de

About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds invests venture capital in young, high potential high-tech start-ups that can turn promising research findings into business success. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an R&D project through prototyping and to “proof of concept” phase or market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry For Economic Affairs and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as the following 18 companies: ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Innogy, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

Contact:
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Lucille Bonnet
Schlegelstr. 2
53113 Bonn
Tel.: +49.228.823001.00
Fax: +49.228.823000.50
info@htgf.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

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