RobotUnion announces the 20 startups selected to enter the acceleration programme

Each of the winners, selected among 204 applications from 32 countries, will receive up to €223,000 in equity-free funding, alongside acceleration and mentoring services

RobotUnion, the first pan-European acceleration programme fully focused on robotics, has announced the names of the 20 startups entering the first acceleration services. The project led by FundingBox and backed by leading accelerators, venture capital entities and RTOs selected the winners within a Jury Day where 44 startups and SMEs pitched in front of a panel of experts during September 13–14th at Tecnalia’s headquarters in San Sebastián (Spain).

The jury was composed by the coordinator of the program (FundingBox), business mentors (ISDI), fundraising mentors (ODENSE Seed and Venture, Blumorpho, Chrysalix), technical coaching providers (Robo Valley, Tu Delft, VTT, MADE), big corporations (Fenin, Ferrovial Servicios, Cluster Empresarial Valle del Ebro Food+i) and technology and innovation centres (Tecnalia and Mobile World Capital Barcelona).

Ultimately, 20 startups and SMEs were selected to enter the acceleration programme of RobotUnion’s first call. These startups are changing the digitalisation of the European Industry in the areas of health, manufacturing, agriculture, civil engineering and open disruptive innovation verticals:

• BotsAndUs Ltd: Customer service and operations robotics and AI (UK)
• Smooth Robotics ApS: SmoothTool helps to avoid any kind of complicated programming of the welding robot — only intuitive learning (Denmark)
• Springa: Goliath CNC is the first portable and autonomous robotic tool that disrupts the way of makers, artisans and professionals work flat surfaces (Italy)
• InteSpring: The smallest and most lightweight industrial Leg Exoskeleton in the world that can support high loads. (Netherlands)
• Neurodigital Technologies SL: Touch & Feel VR (Spain)
• Alias Robotics S.L.: A bio-inspired cybersecurity solution for robots (Spain)
• Aivero AS: Empowering industrial robots with cloud computing of 3d video (Norway)
• Fizyr B.V.: Deep learning for vision-guided robotics (Netherlands)
• Tendo: Grasp life with Tendo — A robotic glove which increases the function of your grip — made for people, not symptoms (Denmark)
• Cyber Surgery: Robotic Assistant for Spine Surgery (Spain)
• QuizIT sp.z.o.o: Robotic hospital pharmacy which reduces medication error by 99% and eliminates medication theft (Poland)
• ACCREA Bartlomiej Stanczyk: Remote Medical Diagnostician — a remotely controlled robot performing real-time medical ultrasonographic examinations (Poland)
• I-Gripper: a smart gripper for automated sample handling in the laboratory (Germany)
• Future Sense S.L.: Robotic solution for autonomous treatment of musculoskeletal pathologies (Spain)
• LuxAI S.A.: QTrobot is a scientifically validated and globally scalable solution for huge economical and societal challenges of autism (Luxembourg)
• Eliport Robotics S.L.: Autonomous ground-based delivery robots (Spain)
• Cliin ApS: Proactively keep vessel hulls clean from biofouling, saving the shipping industry billions in saved fuel consumption and hull maintenance (Denmark)
• KEWAZO GmbH: KEWAZO offers a smart robotic system that performs flexible, cost-efficient and safe transportation of construction materials on-site. (Germany)
• Farm Robotics and Automation SL: Robot that balances animal welfare with farm productivity by monitoring chickens using sensors and AI (Spain)
• Proxima Centauri IVS: Sustainable sausages from automated natural casings Selection and Calibration processing (Denmark)

Each selected company will receive up to €223,000 equity-free for its initial funding stage as well as access to technological support from European robotics experts and business acceleration services. The best-performing companies participating in the programme may obtain an additional €1 million of private investment in funding rounds lead by the VCs CHRYSALIX and ODENSE SEED AND VENTURE, with the support of Blumorpho.

The programme: from research to setting up

The 20 startups and SMEs selected in the first open call launched by RobotUnion will initiate an acceleration process of 6 to 12 months. For the first time, the participants will be accompanied from their research phase all the way through setting up the business.

After the Jury Day, the acceleration process will begin with the feasibility study and the 20 participants will enter different research and product development stages, where in addition to equity-free funding, the companies will receive extensive technical and technological support provided by the leading institutes in robotics R&D in Europe: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Danish Technological Institute, TU DELFT, TECNALIA and PIAP. The participants will also receive business acceleration, led by digital business school ISDI.

The startups selected will take part in a rigorous and personalised training programme and will have access to ISDI’s international network of recognised mentors from Google, Airbnb, Ikea, Yahoo, Prisa and Microsoft, among others. A special voucher scheme will be initiated by project coordinator FundingBox, giving accelerated companies access to a range of service providers via a one-of-a-kind marketplace fully dedicated to supporting robotics companies.

The entrepreneurs will also have direct contact with leaders of agri-food, healthcare, civil engineering and manufacturing sector through the participation of organisations including MADE, Ferrovial Servicios, ARLA Foods and FENIN.

RobotUnion will further boost the visibility of startups and SMEs in the robotics sector taking part in top international events such as 4YFN at MWC Barcelona, Automatica Munich, Slush and Web Summit.

In total, RobotUnion is offering 8M€ in equity-free funding in two open calls for startups and SMEs within the framework of the Horizon 2020 programme by the European Commission.

To know more about RobotUnion and be updated about all the activities of the acceleration programme and future open call, join RonotUnion Community now!

RobotUnion Team