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- Fidiasz EVC, SpeedUp Energy Innovation, Movens VC, and RST Ventures for Earth venture capital funds have made an investment of EUR 2.5 million into the leader of Polish robotics.
- VersaBox offers robots and digital solutions for logistics, including the AUTONOMY@WORK intralogistics system based on autonomous mobile robots.
- The company aims to become one of the leaders of the Industry 4.0 sector and is already building a partnership network across Europe, also drawing on the knowledge and experience of the new investors.
Fidiasz EVC, SpeedUp Energy Innovation, Movens Capital, and RST Ventures for Earth venture capital funds have invested EUR 2.5 million into VersaBox, a company specialising in robotics. The Warsaw based company has just embarked on its international expansion, creating a partnership network in several European Union countries.
“Such an experienced group of investors proves that the potential and the achievements of VersaBox are appreciated outside of the industry as well. In particular, it is important that, in addition to capital for development, we have expanded our group of partners with real experience in scaling business on international markets,” comments Jacek Królik, VersaBox CEO.
VersaBox – the future leader of the AMR robot market
Since the beginning of 2017, VersaBox has been a robot manufacturer and a supplier of digital solutions for logistics, such as the proprietary AUTONOMY@WORK system. It allows customers to implement flexible and efficient next-generation intralogistics processes Smart Intralogistics. VersaBox deals with internal logistics, i.e. transport of goods and products within companies, production facilities, or warehouses. The company has built its own fully autonomous system for mobile robots, which allow quick and efficient transport of goods to and from the warehouse and between manufacturing cells. VersaBox solutions have already been implemented in Polish and foreign industrial plants, including the automotive industry. Their current partners include such companies as: Faurecia, Lubella, HUF, and Autoliv.
Scaling with INVESTORS
“VersaBox is an advanced, industrial-grade navigation system for factories that’s able to integrate easily with various types of manufacturing and warehousing processes. Our system has been tested and implemented in real, industrial conditions,” emphasises Jakub Michalski, one of the company founders.
VersaBox is the result of the work of graduates from Warsaw University of Technology and managers from the Polish IT scene, specifically advanced IT solutions for enterprises. It has attracted the attention of investors from the very beginning.
“We have observed the development of VersaBox in recent years. Now, we are actively involved in the company, as we have seen its readiness and appetite for foreign expansion. Our experience in international scaling, as well as that of other investors, combined with the large amount of funds VersaBox received as part of this investment round, provide the foundations for the implementation of this plan,” believes Michał Olszewski, co-founder and partner at Movens VC.
“This is an example of a company that showed potential for rapid scaling from the very beginning,” adds Krzysztof Domarecki, founder of Fidiasz EVC and the first VC investor in VersaBox. “This is particularly evident now that the Industry 4.0 is already becoming reality, and the benefits of the robotisation process are crucial for the further development of most industries,“ he explains.
Market for 1 MILLION ROBOTS AMR a year
According to an analysis by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), Europe is already the region with the highest density of robots with an average of 114 units per 10,000 employees in the manufacturing industry1. The IFR forecasts a further and dynamic development of this market. Between 2020 and 2022, nearly 2 million new industrial robots are to be installed in factories around the world2. VersaBox aims to be an important supplier of comprehensive, end-to-end solutions on this market.
“It is already one of the fastest growing companies in the autonomous vehicles sector in Europe. As it turns out, it’s not only cars: the same technology is also used for other types of self-driving vehicles operating in a specific environment,” explains Bartłomiej Gola, managing partner at SpeedUp Energy Innovation and general partner of the SpeedUp Group. “The company is among the top three most advanced manufacturers of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). This is a relatively new industry – it’s a race between young companies with software development roots, and mechanically excellent, traditional players,” adds Gola.
VersaBox has an opportunity to introduce a new standard in mass production and the warehousing industry, as noted by Tomasz Popów, general partner of RST Ventures for Earth.
“We specialise in commercialising projects that significantly improve work ergonomics and systems efficiency, and thus improve living and working conditions. Automation, as done by VersaBox, promises such a thing,” says Tomasz Popów.
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In VERSABOX invested:
Fidiasz VC is a Polish investment fund created by Krzysztof Domarecki, founder of the Selena Group. The idea behind the fund is simple: it combines business expertise with the experiences of managers from various industries, and with the business ideas of innovators and creators of new technologies. Fidiasz EVC wants to co-create the best and the most innovative Polish products and solutions and introduce them to international markets.
Movens VC supports young Polish technology companies with international potential during the first step of their sales scaling process. The fund focuses on companies that need from EUR 250,000 to EUR 1 million, operating in Poland, in particular enterprises operating on the basis of machine learning and AI, revolutionising the way large industries operate.
SpeedUp Energy Innovation is a fund that belongs to the SpeedUp Group, established under the NCBiR BRIdge VC program by PGE Ventures, the Polish Development Fund, and the SpeedUp Group. The fund invests in technological solutions related to the PGE Group’s broad value chain and which are at an advanced stage of growth and expansion, or with high innovation and scale-building potential.
RST Ventures for Earth invests through leaders who create companies which have a positive impact on people and the environment, implementing the idea of so-called Impact Investing. It invests from EUR 250,000 to EUR 1 million in each company. It is interested in IoT, IIot, ML & AI, and Industry 4.0 technologies, and SaaS business models that may migrate to the marketplace model over time.
Project co-financed by European Funds under the Intelligent Development Operational Program, 3.1.1 Investments in innovative start-ups – Starter
