Why we invested in Ascento
Ascento, a Swiss robotics company, has raised a $4.3 million funding round led by Wingman Ventures and Playfair to roll out its latest autonomous security
patrolling robot to tackle the global security guard personnel shortage
Ascento fits into our thesis that robotics is a multi-decade trend to watch:
How it all started
Alessandro Morra, Miguel de la Iglesia Valls, Dominik Mannhart and Ciro Salzmann founded Ascento when they were students at ETH Zurich, a world-leading university in science and technology. Ascento was initially an academic project, but became a commercial business just over a year ago.
A lot has happened since then. I discovered the robotics-as-a-service company through our outbound data strategy and reached out to them via their website. Afterwards, we went to Zurich to meet with them and Swiss-based Wingman Ventures, who were interested in co-leading the round with us.
As we learned more about Ascento’s founders, their tech, and the problems in the security industry they’re solving, we realised this was a company with huge potential. We’re excited for what comes next.
The problem
Security companies employ people to patrol premises like commercial real estate, industrial complexes, data centres, and oil and gas facilities, and more. In recent years, these security companies, which contract out their services, have come to face a number of challenges:
1. Labour shortages: Finding staff willing to work as security guards, especially for extended shifts, during odd hours, or in poor weather conditions, has become increasingly difficult.
2. High staff turnover: The job of a manned perimeter security guard is far from glamorous. There are long, solitary, and uncomfortable hours, particularly during night shifts and bad weather. Turnover rates can exceed 43% annually.
3. Poor quality staff: Absenteeism is high, instructions are ignored or forgotten, and falling asleep on the job is not unheard of. Service quality tends to be subpar, with issues like illness, incompetence, and intoxication being common.
4. Inefficient: Manual tracking and analytics methods used by guards are clunky. Guards must complete checklists to certify that they’ve conducted the required checks, adding administrative overhead.
The result is high staff costs and narrow profit margins. Staff turnover leads to further recruitment and training costs, as well as fines for failing to deliver the promised guarding levels.
Ascento’s solution
Ascento’s robot works with, but doesn’t replace human guards by taking on repetitive surveillance and patrolling tasks that no one enjoys. Unlike humans, it’s available 24/7, 365 days a year, whatever the weather, and never gets sick, bored or tired.
The all-terrain robot has patented self-balancing technology, which gets it over or around overcoming obstacles. It can detect threats and stream live video, ensuring continuous data collection, and analytics. It can cover wide areas with no blind spots with 360-degree cameras.
Security personnel in control rooms can access live video and audio from the robot, taking remote control when necessary. Trend data can be assessed over time to address recurring issues.
Ascento also operates its own security operating centre staffed by outsourced graduates who can take remote control of the robot using telepresence software.
The robot can be deployed in under a day. The robot fits into the boot of a car for delivery. It can be installed anywhere with a normal power outlet.
Last October, Ascento posted a video which gave an impressive overview of their robot’s capabilities. (Mechanical engineer and designer Dominik is a part-time film director).
The video went viral and they received over 500 inbound leads with ideas of how the robot could be put to use. Security was one of the most suggested ideas, and the team, who have worked as security guards themselves, decided to go for it.
Since then, they have supplied robots to a number of major security companies and there’s been significant coverage in the media, including this piece from Reuters.
Why we invested
The global physical security market was valued at USD 127.01 billion in 2022 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.8% from 2023 to 2030. The manned security market is worth USD 78.7 billion, accounting for 62% of the physical security market. There are several reasons why we believe Ascento’s exceptional technical and commercial capabilities will help them capture a significant portion of that market.
1. Technical excellence
Over five years, Ascento has developed an all-terrain robot with self-balancing systems capable of overcoming obstacles and patrolling large areas. These robots can detect threats and stream live video, ensuring constant surveillance.
2. Cost-effective operations
Ascento’s robots perform repetitive surveillance and patrolling tasks at a lower cost than human guards. They operate 24/7/365. Service quality and reliability is much higher than with human guards. Robots may have occasional technical issues (although they can mostly be fixed remotely or the robot can be fully replaced within a day). Otherwise they do not get ill, drunk or fail to complete their tasks.
3. Superior quality and cost efficiency
Ascento’s robots are not only of superior quality but also more cost-effective than existing robotics solutions on the market. There do not appear to be any robots with comparable capabilities that can go anywhere a human can on a bikeable path.
4. A world-class team
Last, but not least, is the exceptional team behind this innovative solution who have consistently impressed us with their maturity, attention to detail and technical prowess.
What’s next?
If you’re a security company looking to venture into robotics, you can reach out to the Ascento team here.
