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CheMastery Closes Oversubscribed Seed Round

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Britbots portfolio company CheMastery has secured an oversubscribed multi-million-pound seed funding round to increase the efficiency of chemical research and manufacturing.

The Company estimates around 80% of the average chemist’s time in the lab is spent on low-skill manual duties, which slows down the progress of industries such as biotech, life science, food, and pharmaceuticals. CheMastery is developing processes to automate these repetitive and time-consuming manual elements of chemistry.

Find out more: https://www.uktech.news/deep-tech/chemastery-closes-seed-round-20221213

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Hausbots Raises £1.5m Seed Round - Britbots

Thu, 15 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Britbots portfolio company Hausbots which uses vertical, wall climbing robots to carry out inspections of critical infrastructure has raised a £1.5m seed round led by Pi-labs and Plug and Play ventures. The investment occurred at a 3.5x valuation to Britbots' initial investment.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Muddy Machines Raises $1.8m Seed Round - Britbots

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 14:44:38 GMT

Congratulations to Muddy Machines who have announced the closing of a Seed funding round. This latest round of investment occurred at over a 6x valuation to the valuation at Britbots' initial investment.

The new funding will allow the company to enhance the development of its harvesting robots that support zero emissions and solve the desperate labor issues in the agriculture industry.

Further details: https://www.therobotreport.com/muddy-machines-brings-in-1-8m-for-asparagus-harvesting-robot-sprout/

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

QLM Raises $14m Series A - Britbots

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Congratulations to QLM Technology who have announced the closing of their Series A funding and the signing of a Collaboration Agreement with Schlumberger. This latest round of investment occurred at over a 14x valuation to the valuation at Britbots' initial investment.

QLM has developed a new type of LiDAR (laser imaging, detection, and ranging) camera based on quantum technology that can see and accurately quantify greenhouse gas emissions. The gas imager enables customers to monitor, detect and accurately locate and quantify Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission sources for rapid repair. A related version of the product enables remote quantification of flare efficiency.

Further details: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/temple-quarter-campus/research-teaching-and-partnerships/qtic/news/2022/au...

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Futr Raises £2m Seed - Britbots

Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Congratulations to Futr on the raise of their $2.1m Seed+ round led by Blackfinch.

Futr enables organisations such as police forces, local councils and financial institutions to enhance their customer service functions through a set of simple-to-deploy no-code, automated chat tools. The platform enables AI-powered conversations across multiple communication channels, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Slack, and can translate conversations into 120 languages in real-time. Futr also learns from historical datasets, meaning new customers see value in the accuracy of the platform almost immediately.

Further details: https://www.privateequitywire.co.uk/2022/04/20/313890/blackfinch-ventures-invests-ps21m-seed-funding-futr

Britbots is a specialist UK based Pre-Seed investment fund investing in in companies using artificial intelligence, robotics or other automation technologies to develop productivity gains.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Sectorial Trends in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Investing

Mon, 04 Apr 2022 11:19:09 GMT

The Ark Big Ideas 2022 report was released last week – the yearly report from Cathy Wood’s ETFs backing publically list high-growth potential technology companies operating across AI, Robotic, Battery Technology, Blockchain and Gene sequencing.

Whilst Britbots restricts its investments to only two of these categories – robotics and ai based technologies – and at that only invests in in privately held companies based in the UK – the report is an interesting read for the bull cases for investing in automation technologies over the next decade

You can read the full report here but here are some extracts we thought particularly worthy of note:

AI training costs appear to be declining at more than twice the rate of Moore’s Law as performance is increasing significantly [1].
- From 2015 to 2020, the cost to train as GPT-3 [2] mode dropped 65% each year from $875m to $4.6m [3].
- According to Arc research the cost may decline as much as another 4 orders of magnitude to $500 in 2030 [4].
- What does this mean? As the cost of model training decreases, the scope AI to be applied to more complex problems and a greater range of problems will increase disproportionately thereby supporting the increased adoption of ai based technologies.

By 2030, artificial intelligence may be able to boost the output of global knowledge workers by close to 10% annual rate, rising from $41 trillion in expected human labour output (2021) to roughly $97 trillion in AI + human output (2030)
- What does this mean? The opportunity for enterprises to boost outputs relative to labour should lead to an increasing in AI software spending. Arc estimates this increasing from $1 trillion in 2021 to $14 trillion in 2030.

Supply chain shocks and labour shortages should accelerate the adoption of automation technologies. The adoption of industrial robotics accelerated after the 2002 dot-com bust and again after the 2008-9 great financial crises. It is likely that the supply chain bottle necks which continue in a post-Covid world and the weakening of Sino/Western trade relations will support the additional adoption of automation technologies. [4]
- What does this mean? Ark expects the increased adoption of robotic technologies to boost enterprise value of robotics companies by close to 100x by 2030, rising from an aggregate of $52 billion in 2022) to $5 trillion by 2030.

Automation is consistent with job growth. Amazon deployed its first 200,000 robots over seven years and another 150,000 in just two years. During those nine years, Amazon's workforce grew nearly fifteen-fold. Despite the elimination of retail positions, automation can enable new products and services that otherwise would not exist, on balance increasing the demand for labour.

About Britbots : Britbots invests SEIS and EIS funds in to robotics, artificial intelligence and automation start ups based in the UK. We believe investing in automation is crucial to arrest 3 major crises companies and economies are experiencing: labour shortages, falling productivity and declining natural resources.

Footnotes:

1. Moore’s Law suggests that the number of transistors per silicon chip doubles every two years, thereby reducing the cost of compute by 50%

2 . GPT 3 is a large language model developed by Open AI that uses deep learning to generate text, ranging from translation to poetry composition

3. At these costs, the cost to train a human brain of 240 trillion synapses would fall from $2.5 billion to $600,000 by 2030

4. Executive Summary World Robotics 2021 Industrial Robots. https://ifr.org/img/worldrobotics/Executive_Summary_WR_Industrial_Robots_2021.pdf .

Better Understanding Robotics Investing

Tue, 15 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT

As the world begins to rebuild beyond the pandemic, the prospect that the forthcoming decade will be shaped by the growing sophistication of robotics and AI technologies is becoming more like and thesis driving robotics investing become more compelling. Minimum wages remain high in the Western world (despite the pressure on employment caused by the pandemic) and robotic platforms, now acting with greater levels of autonomy and precision, are increasingly making inroads into activities which have traditionally required high levels of manual labour. Despite this, the robotics investing model is typically less well understood than more standard playbooks for institutional technology investment such as Software-as-a-Service. Our next few articles aim to set to unpack this subject focussing on the following:

A lack of clarity on whether robotics and automation start ups are pure hardware businesses;
The key characteristics of robotics and automation start up business models which underpin the growth of strong, scalable and defensible companies; and
The role of robotics and automation in boosting productivity and profitability, and why we believe robotics and automation investing will become a major investment theme over the coming decade.

(Mis) Understanding Hardware

There’s an elephant in the room when it comes to robotics and automation investing: the widely and often rightly held perception that “hardware is hard”.

Significant reservations are attached to investing into areas such as electronics or heavy machinery particularly due to:

1. Greater requirements for capital expenditure into tooling and production;

2. Less attractive unit profit margins;

3. More working capital tied up in inventory and work-in-progress materials;

4. Slower speeds to market because of longer development cycles; and

5. Friction in distributing products.

However, many of these concerns are now being circumvented by a new class of robotics start up whose products combine comparatively straight-forward and low cost hardware (for example, using off-the-shelf motors, actuators, cameras and sensors) with a more sophisticated, typically autonomous, software capability which sits behind this hardware.

In this “frugal-robotics” paradigm, bills-of-materials are kept low, product complexity is minimised and technologies such as 3D printing are used to ensure that external lead-time risks are eliminated. At the same time, these businesses can operate “Robotics-as-a-Service” models, with recurring monthly revenues from subscription fees and scope for additional “bolt-on” software upgrades, whilst maintaining defensibility by nurturing and then leveraging an organic, proprietary data set.

One way to relate to these businesses is as hardware-software hybrids with the hardware attributes providing access to a unique set of application areas with software driving the more attractive economic characteristics. Early versions of a product the software-hardware mix may be 50:50 however, following the incorporation of a number of downstream software bolt-on services, the mix could skew to 80:20 (hence substantially operating like a SaaS business).

Despite these characteristics, we still find that such robotics start ups tend to be valued much more modestly than pure software businesses, thereby creating plenty of scope for larger investment profits by the time they have a reached a maturity point when that they can be valued against their fundamental profitability. This is one reason why we feel the robotics investment niche represents such an attractive opportunity for wealth creation right now.

Case Study: Environmental Monitoring-as-a-Service

Existing Britbots portfolio company, QLM, is a good example of how comparatively low cost hardware can be used to provide the raw material – in this case proprietary gas flow data – processed by an autonomous software layer to provide fast, accurate and low-cost methane leak identification within oil and gas infrastructure.

QLM’s technology can detect carbon dioxide and methane leaks at a range of 100 metres with ten times great accuracy than current solutions and the company has already secured contracts with leading industry players such as Total and Schlumberger.

Real World Problems

The last few decades have witnessed an enormous amount of new value by software businesses but the process of “software eating the world” has tended to limit solutions to servers and screens.

On the one hand, this has led to a high degree of competition and diminishing returns in software-only solutions. But more importantly, whilst it's true that software pure-plays have less friction to slow them down, ultimately they have one major drawback. Software by itself cannot conduct useful work in the real world. If deployed correctly, relatively simple electro-mechanical devices enabled by a raft of much more sophisticated software systems can perform tasks that open-up a previously unobtainable new frontier of economic value.

Construction, along with industries like agriculture, energy, manufacturing, logistics and security, is an example of an industry where innovation requires large amount of interaction with the physical world.

With a value chain delivering approximately $11 trillion of global value the ecosystem represents approximately 13 percent of global GDP (McKinsey Next Normal In Construction).

Nonetheless, there is a huge productivity problem: construction has seen a meagre productivity growth of 1 percent annually for the past two decades with the Economist estimating this costs the world economy $1.6 trillion per year

For obvious reasons, the most innovative solutions for this industry tend not to be digital only. Ultimately the value-add in construction comes from creating physical structures and installing the fixtures, fitting and decorations for buildings to be useful spaces for life and work.

Case Study: Paiting-as-a-Service

Existing RAIA portfolio company, Hausbots has developed a wall climbing robot to protect and maintain buildings and infrastructure, carrying out tasks such as painting, cleaning and undertaking visual inspections.

By employing Formula-1-style aerodynamics the Company has created a unique robotic platform that can climb vertical surfaces, apply paint and make inspections without the requirement for scaffolding. The solution can work least 300% faster than current methods, at 50% cost reduction in price and has received encouraging traction from some of the largest paint and painting-equipment companies in the world such as Bell, AkzoNobel and Henkel.

About Britbots

Britbots is a specialist SEIS / EIS venture capital fund investing in startups using artificial intelligence, robotics or other automation technologies to develop productivity gains. We are typically the first external investor into a business.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the UK automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

New Portfolio Additions | Pre-Seed Investment Fund - Britbots

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

We continue to focus on backing exceptional founding teams using robotics, artificial intelligence and other automation technologies to tackle the major productivity crises the world is facing namely:

Labour Crisis: How to grow despite global shrinking labour growth?
Productivity Crisis: How to grow despite falling global productivity growth?
Environmental Crisis: How to grow whilst decreasing reliance on carbon and negative environmental impact?
Resources Crisis: How to grow whilst reducing the pressure on already stretched natural resources?

As global consumption levels continue to rise, these pressures are likely to intensify. We believe that companies providing solutions to these problems will be able to generate durable returns and favourable valuations.

We have been delighted to welcome 9 exciting new companies to the Britbots’ portfolio of 2021.

Covering a broad range of industry verticals spanning agriculture, chemistry, alternative energy and transport, all our new companies are united by one constant: they are all developing radical, productivity maximising solutions to help their customers reduce costs and/or improve
performance.

Altered Carbon – builds sensor technology which can identify and categorise scents as digital fingerprints
Bladebug – builds micro robots to inspect and repair offshore wind turbines
Calyo – builds sound vision technology allowing autonomous platforms to “see” in low visibility conditions
CheMastery – builds automated solutions for bench chemistry
Deep Meta – builds machine learning tools for steel and other metal producers to improve efficiency and reduce carbon emissions
MetaLynx – builds tools for machine developers to more easily handle and categorise large data sets
Muddy Machines – builds harvesting robotics for selective stemmed vegetables
Rad Propulsion – builds electric, IOT connected propulsion devices for the marine industry
Vizgard – builds computer vision tools to help safety and security providers identify and respond to threats
Albion Tech - is building the world’s first Smart Battery Cell marrying individual Artificial Intelligence control within the Li-on battery cell assembly

Britbots is a specialist UK based pre-seed an investment fund, investing in 10 new pre-seed companies per year. We invest in companies using artificial intelligence, robotics or other automation technologies to develop productivity gains and are typically the first external investor into a business.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Investing In Robotics and Automation In 2022 - Britbots

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Britbots has been investing in robotics, artificial intelligence and automation since 2017, with the core of our investment thesis centring around backing companies that pioneer productivity-boosting innovations: technologies that allow “more to be done with less”. From a societal perspective, productivity growth is the cornerstone of improving prosperity and living standards; and from an economic perspective, it makes it possible for companies to grow their margins and develop new revenue opportunities.

In our current world where the constraints arising from the limitations of labor, material resources and energy have become all too apparent, the urgency to find more productive approaches to existing activities has never been greater. From a company perspective we believe that investing in robotics and automation solutions will play a large part in alleviating these constraints. From an enterprise investment scheme perspective, we believe that growing demand at the company level for productivity solutions, will be a durable driver of returns for investments in robotics and automation technology providers.

Alleviating Global Productivity Challenges

Global productivity grew dramatically from the first Industrial Revolution until the post-War period, but since the 1970s growth in the Western World has slowed. In itself, given the importance of productivity to societies and corporate profits, this is concerning. But it is particularly so, given the increasing pressures on companies and economies posed by three related challenges:

The Labor Challenge: Driving growth despite shrinking workforce availability;
The Resources Challenge: Driving growth despite widespread material resource scarcity;
The Energy Challenge: Driving growth whilst transitioning from unsustainable fossil fuels.

Britbots focuses on investing in entrepreneurs using r o botics, artificial intelligence and autonomous technologies to create compelling solutions to each of these three challenges. The companies that are being built, individually and collectively, offer the potential to return productivity growth to a higher level, establishing a new phase of prosperity for the years ahead.

1. Investing In Robotics and Automation: Meeting the labor challenge

As job vacancies in the UK reach a record high of 1.2 million in November 2021 (ONS Data), an increase of 435,000 from its pre-Covid-19 level, the shortage of available workers has become apparent. The combination of longer-term trends such as the aging population with more near-term events such as the pandemic and Brexit have precipitated this chronic labor crunch.

Clearly, this situation represents a significant opportunity for robotics and automation technology companies to provide solutions to close the workforce gap. In particular, capable machines which can operate autonomously for long periods are becoming attractive propositions for employers that are struggling to find staff. Anecdotally, levels of interest in robotic solutions in sectors such as agriculture, hospitality and elderly care, which previously had relied on plentiful supplies of labor and were hitherto unmotivated by automation, are now extremely high.

2. Investing In Robotics and Automation: Addressing material scarcity

Materials are another economic input for which companies are increasingly experiencing shortages. European consultancy, Inverto, published a study in December last year in which 73% of the business leaders surveyed remarked on the poorer availability of materials resulting from Covid-19, with 76% expecting a strong or moderate cost increase in raw material prices within the next 18 months. The problem, of course, does not just sit with primary materials but also extends along supply-chains leading to widespread availability pressures in areas such as microprocessors and renewable energy infrastructure.

At the end of 2021, the world was consuming primary materials 70% faster than had been the case fifty years before, putting a great load on the planet’s ability to replenish its resources. The impact of the Pandemic on global trade has merely exacerbated businesses’ experience of these fundamental shortages.

Technologies which enable businesses, particularly those in resource-heavy sectors like industry, construction and agriculture, to make material inputs go further through improved efficiencies and waste reduction, will become increasingly sought-after as resource scarcity continues to intensify.

3. Investing In Robotics and Automation: Supporting the energy transition

As re-emphasised when world leaders met last November at COP26, the transition to Net Zero will require a fundamental re-engineering of almost every commonplace economic activity over the next thirty years.

Autonomous technologies will be essential in transitioning to the widespread electrification of industrial processes and vehicles. Smart systems have an important role to play in the eradication of fossil fuels as a power source. Additionally, they will both allow: industries to continuously measure and mitigate their emissions; and also underpin the new networks needed for the generation and transmission of clean energy.

It feels like a pivotal moment for investors in robotics, AI and automation companies. We remain optimistic that the sorts of businesses that Britbots supports will be able to deliver a positive impact to the productivity landscape over the years ahead and this will be the source of enduring returns for the fund.

About Britbots' Robotics, AI and Automation Fund

Britbots is a specialist SEIS fund and EIS fund investor . We invest in companies using artificial intelligence, robotics or other automation technologies to develop productivity gains and are typically the first external investor into a business.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the UK automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Humanising Autonomy Raises $11m Series A - Britbots

Sun, 17 Oct 2021 10:29:16 GMT

Congratulations to Humanising Autonomy on the raise of their $11m Series A. Humanising Autonomy is using modular, low-power computer vision technology to ethically understand and predict human behaviour. This latest round of investment occurred at over a 25x valuation to Britbots' initial investment.

Further details: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/humanising-autonomy-raises-11-million-series-a-funding-to-change-how-machines-understand-people-globally-301405147.html

Britbots is a specialist UK based Pre-Seed investment fund, investing in 10 new pre-seed companies per year. We focus on companies using artificial intelligence, robotics or other automation technologies to develop productivity gains

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Portfolio Company Spotlight | Genie Connect - Britbots

Sun, 10 Oct 2021 15:59:37 GMT

Genie Connect’s founders Rob Parkes and Tim Morgan both have elderly parents who found themselves living alone after losing their respective partners. Having seen first-hand how quickly a full and happy life can become lonely, whilst also wanting their parents to receive ongoing support without needing to move into institutional care, Rob and Tim created Genie Connect, a companion robot service using a voice enabled technology to offer connectivity and support to the UK’s older adults.

Genie Connect is technically similar to an Amazon Alexa but specifically targeted to the needs and technical usage limitations of the elderly. Principally, the device provides remote connection with local authority care centre representatives, together with providing an additional point of connection to family members, stimulating content and health and wellbeing by reminders such as to take medication on time or to attend appointments.

Loneliness of elderly adults living alone is a major issue. Researchers at the London School of Economics have put a financial price on an "epidemic of loneliness", estimating it costs £6,000 per elderly person in health costs and pressure on local services. Age UK estimates there are 1.4 million elderly older people in the UK who are often lonely with this number estimated to rise to 2 million by 2030. By combining artificial-intelligence based interactions with an actual call centre staffed by remote carers, the Genie Connect system plans to make access to support services and companionship much more available, extending the period elderly adults can live independently in their own homes and by extension reducing the pressures created by elderly adults moving into residential care.

The Genie product offering aligns with huge demographic shifts taking place.

“Social care funding is squeezed in the face of demand for more, better care.” says Genie Connect Project Manager, Imogen. “But there aren’t enough care workers, even if there was funding for them. Service Robotics has developed a usable, scalable and independent living solution for older adults. We've built an awesome team with a variety of experiences which has enabled us to be successful in signing our first contracts, and put ourselves in the unique position of becoming experts in an emerging market that is involved in solving one of our society’s biggest problems.

“Commercial launch is perfectly timed to take advantage of the growing requirement for remote care, the acceptance of Age-tech solutions, and fuelled by resource constraints and Covid-19. We aim to have a fleet size of 16,000 with approximately 20 local authority partners by the end of 2022.”

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Top 50 Robotics List by HausBots | Robotic Solutions - Britbots

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT

HausBots have been named amongst some of the best up and coming talent using robotics in the built environment by Build Worlds.

This list features leading companies in the landscape of robotic solutions & insights, with each offering innovative solutions in the areas of 3D Printing, Autonomous Heavy Equipment, Service Robotics, or Monitoring Robotics.

Find out more here .

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Flare Bright Shortlisted for CogX Award 2021 - Britbots

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 18:26:04 GMT

Congratulations to the Flare Bright team who have have been shortlisted as finalists for the CogX Awards 2021 as one of three finalists shortlisted for Best innovation in Autonomous Vehicles.

Every year, CogX Awards shines the spotlight on the most amazing innovations, trailblazing leaders and the exceptional organisations making a positive change in their industry.

CogX is the world’s leading AI festival with over 15,000 people in attendance from the highest levels of business, government, industry and research. CogX Awards celebrate the best in AI and emerging technologies.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the UK in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Humanising Autonomy Together for Safer Roads' Truck of the Future

Mon, 31 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Humanising Autonomy has been awarded Together for Safer Roads' Truck of the Future initiative, a road safety initiative that includes some of the world’s largest fleets.

Blind zones are a major contributing factor for truck crashes: about one-quarter of all truck-related deaths in the U.S. are due to vision-related, low-speed maneuvers and international research has found that driver visibility is related to over one-third of truck crashes with vulnerable road users.

Humanising Autonomy will use its computer vision and behavior AI technology to add a nuanced understanding of VRU (vulnerable road user) behavior to fleets. The software will help improve fleet driver visibility and reaction times, making roads safer for vulnerable users. This announcement is especially meaningful following the UN Global Road Safety Week , as the Truck of the Future program is intended to improve fleet safety through cutting edge technology and ultimately, save lives.

Working with integration partners Streamax and VisionTrack , Humanising Autonomy's deployments will start this year with Anheuser-Busch InBev, Republic Services and NYC DCAS in the New York Metro Area, as well as Guadalajara, Mexico.

It is yet another example of the massive traction Humanising Autonomy are seeing with the video telematics market for immediately applicable use cases.

The announcement can be found here

Humanising Autonomy is a behaviour AI company building the global standard for intuitive interaction between people and machines; improving automation anywhere for a safer, more productive way of living. The company’s unique methodology combines behavioural psychology, statistical AI and novel deep learning algorithms to understand, infer and predict the full spectrum of human behaviours.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the UK in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Vizgard wins Airward | Defence, Security, Surveillance - Britbots

Wed, 26 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Congratulations to Vizgard who have won first prize in this year's Airwards in the 'Defence, Security and Surveillance' category.

Vizgard is building a safer future with a computer vision solution to automate and enhance surveillance, unmanned and counter-UAS platforms. Their platform-agnostic 'AI Toolkit' runs on low-SWAP edge devices and offers drone and camera OEMs with state-of-the-art capabilities such as object detection and tracking, image enhancement, face-redaction and optical navigation in GPS-denied environments, enabling a better chance of finding and tracking subjects of interest.

What the Airwards judges said:

"An incredible technical achievement and development which combines drone imagery and artificial intelligence. This high level of adaptive innovation will have a myriad of exceptional real-world uses that will protect the public and the innocent – from event and mass gathering support and safety to improved capabilities in search and rescue. This programme is another component in the future of drone technology that needs to see increased adoption, while balancing the privacy of individuals, both of which Vizgard is on the path to helping with."

Britbots Completes Six New Investments | About Us - Britbots

Tue, 25 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

We are delighted to announce the completion of new investments into 6 exciting companies operating in the UK robotics, artificial intelligence and automation community. They are:

Calyo is building an entirely new paradigm for vision perception that has the potential to revolutionise the emerging sensor-enabled autonomous mobility markets.

Chemastery is revolutionising the way chemical production R&D is done by building technology that automates laboratory works flows.

Vizgard builds ai-powered solutions to automate and enhance the surveillance capabilities of unmanned systems.

Muddy Machines is developing a new generation of field robots to help growers manage labour-intensive crops by conducting in-field work.

Bladebug are developing a robotic system to remotely inspect and repair hard-to-access critical infrastructure, starting with off shore wind turbine blades, without the need for rope access.

Rad Propulsion develops electrical IOT marine propulsion systems aimed at increasing the functionality and efficiency of marine motors as the industry transitions from fossil fuels to electric power.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the UK in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

QLM Closes £5m Seed Round | Investment in AI - Britbots

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 16:31:33 GMT

Congratulations to Britbots' portfolio company QLM who have successfully raised £3 million from a consortium of investors including Britbots, Green Angels, E100, Newable, BPEC and Champion X together with £2 million in Innovate UK grants.

QLM Named As Bloomberg NEF Pioneer | About Us - Britbots

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT

In April, BloombergNEF announced its 2021 cohort of BNEF Pioneers: innovators with scalable, impactful and equitable solutions to global net-zero challenges.

QLM, along with Pachama and Planet, were one of only 3 companies included in the "Monitoring and understanding our changing planet" category.

Humanity has emitted over 1,500 gigatons of carbon dioxide since the industrial revolution, raising the atmospheric CO2 concentration to over 410ppm. To tackle climate change we must understand more about greenhouse gas emissions, as well as how the natural systems around us absorb them. New innovations must help us understand more about our planet’s carbon cycle and enable us to better monitor carbon sources and sinks. Innovation gaps include accurate detection and tracking of greenhouse gasses, monitoring and managing the carbon systems within our sea, forests and lands, and technologies that can identify and predict planetary changes.

QLM Technology provides corporations with quantum light camera systems that continuously visualize and quantify emissions as they occur, helping customers achieve net-zero in an affordable, accurate and scalable way.

Zoa and Flarebright: 2021’s Coolest Robotics Startups - Britbots

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Well done to Zoa and Flarebright who were recently named as amougst "the coolest robotics startups shaping the future of UK tech in 2021" by UKTN.

Zoa develops highly mobile legged robots. The tele-operated robotic inspection service enhances resilience by reducing human close contact, reducing engineer travel requirements and strengthening engineer deployment flexibility. It is a strong contender to Boston Dynamic’s Spot that intends to automate routine inspection tasks.

Flare Bright specialises in its UAS product SnapShot, a truly autonomous drone that doesn’t rely on GPS or electromagnetic communication (both which can be can often be denied and spoofed ) and instead uses an un-jammable internal means of flight control and navigation.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Humanising Autonomy win Queen's Award for Enterprise - Britbots

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Well done to the team at Humanising Autonomy who have won The Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation 2021.

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise is among the most prestigious business awards in the UK. The awards were first established in 1965 and since then over 7000 companies have achieved a Queen’s Award. The awards celebrate the success of exciting and innovative businesses which are leading the way with pioneering products or services, delivering impressive social mobility programmes or showing their commitment to excellent sustainable development practices.

Humanising Autonomy’s Behaviour AI Platform has been recognised for its ability to improve automation anywhere for a safer, more productive way of living. The product makes journeys safer, with the potential to significantly reduce $156bn in liability costs in US and Europe alone. The Company's behaviour AI Platform enables driving efficiency through better decision making and fewer unnecessary braking events, resulting in 20% higher fuel efficiency.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the UK in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Flare Bright Wins Octopus Entrepreneur Award - Britbots

Sun, 28 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Congratulations to Flare Bright who have won the Octopus Entrepreneur Award for their developments in autonomous drone technology.

Flare Bright is pushing boundaries of embedded AI technology to develop autonomous nano drones which can act independently of GPS or electromagnetism.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the UK in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

A World Set for Greater Levels of Automation - Britbots

Sat, 02 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT

As the world begins to rebuild beyond the Pandemic, it is becoming more-and-more likely that the forthcoming years will be shaped by increasingly sophisticated robotics and AI technologies. Minimum wages remain high in the Western world even with current low levels of employment and robotic platforms, now acting with greater levels of autonomy and precision, are increasingly making inroads into those activities which previously have required high levels of manual labour and to-date have somewhat avoided the digital revolution.

Despite the challenges of lockdowns, UK-based robotics businesses seem to have been creative in maintaining the pace of their product development. More challenging has been companies’ abilities to find new customers and deploy their technology, either as proofs-of-concept or full implementations. We hope to see the conditions for selling improve over the forthcoming months as corporations realise the importance of delivering productivity gains as a means of flourishing in the post-Pandemic economy. In recent economic cycles, businesses have tended to double-down their spending on automation following a recession, rather than re-hiring staff to previous levels.

“Old-economy” sectors including construction, agriculture, energy, mining, heavy industry, logistics and security are all particularly ripe for a step-up in productivity as their “physicality” has meant that they’ve often stayed less automated than other parts of the economy such as financial services, retail or even high-volume manufacturing.

Take construction as an example: with a value chain delivering approximately £10 trillion of global value, it represents approximately 13 percent of global GDP. Nonetheless, there is a huge productivity problem. The construction sector has seen meagre productivity growth of one percent annually for the past two decades. Ultimately, the value-add in construction comes from creating physical structures and installing the fixtures, fittings and decorations that allow buildings to be useful spaces for life and work. Whilst there is a great deal of technology and advanced machinery used, it all requires a high level of human oversight and intervention. We are only now reaching tipping point in robotics whereby the practical implementation of effective, reliable autonomous systems is making substantial productivity gains in this area possible.

This theme of delivering greater levels of autonomy within the physical economy represents a rich seem for companies, like those in Britbots' portfolio to exploit.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Covid-19 Impact on Robotics & Automation Business - Britbots

Fri, 05 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

The Pandemic has created a seismic shock to the way in which businesses carry out their work, at least in the short-term. We believe that this will impact the adoption of automation technologies over the forthcoming months in three main ways:

1. Accelerated innovation in certain areas: Business decision-makers are rapidly trying out new approaches to business-critical activities, which they previously may have delayed or dismissed. Automation is one such approach. Indeed, in a March 2020 survey conducted by EY, 77% of business leaders said that Covid-19 was forcing them to re-evaluate or take immediate steps in relation to the speed of their businesses’ adoption of automation. In the UK, this transition is likely to be further exacerbated as the Government’s furlough scheme ends and businesses face the choice between bringing back staff and moving to higher levels of autonomy.

2. De-personalisation of work: Soft issue issues such as the emotionally-charged decision to replace jobs with robotics have typically proved to be some of the strongest impediments to technological adoption. However, following several months of social distancing, the de- dersonalisation of business processes is now seen in a more positive light. In the workplace concerns over health and safety are paramount; whilst on consumer side, the desire for the “personal touch” of human service has been trumped by a fear of viral transmission.

3. Automation as a counter-cyclical investment theme: The economic contraction which the Pandemic has induced is also potential likely to encourage the adoption of technology by companies in some cases. Automation’s infiltration of the workplace doesn’t occur at a steady pace. Instead, it happens in bursts, concentrated especially in bad times, such as in the wake of economic shocks, when humans become relatively more expensive as firms’ revenues decline. At these moments, employers shed less-skilled workers and replace them with technology that can be overseen by a much smaller number of higher-skilled workers, which increases labour productivity as the recession tapers off. This is currently particularly valid because new automation technology is increasingly cheap relative to labour. According to a study by Jaimovich and Sui that analysed recessions in the last 30 years, 88% of job losses took place in routine, repetitive occupations, suggesting that automation substituted the vast majority of jobs lost in the crises.

Automation In the 2020s | Pre-seed/Seed Investment - Britbots

Sun, 05 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Welcome to the 2020s, a decade that looks set to be shaped, in part, by the increasingly sophisticated robotics and artificial intelligence technologies that are set to proliferate in many areas of our economic lives. As we start this new decade, it is a good moment for investors in robotics to take stock of where we are and to look ahead at the some of the themes which are likely to shape industry in the period ahead.

The last few years have seen the initial signs of diversification from robots solely being used in high volume manufacturing processes, such as car-making, towards a broader set of application areas. Robotic vacuum cleaners and lawn-movers, whilst not yet widespread, have become more commonplace in households; and people are increasingly likely to be speaking to their electronic devices, in particular smart-speakers such as Alexa or Google Home.

It also appears that the era (since the mid-eighties) of largely unchecked flows of goods, people and capital may be coming to an end. Globalisation, whilst having delivered lower consumer prices, is increasingly being perceived to have also resulted in slower growth, precarious employment and social disruption. If this is indeed the case, it is likely that the UK will continue developing explicit national industrial policies to boost spending on R&D and sharpen its focus on raising domestic productivity. This could to lead to a more benign climate for the growth of embryonic domestic robotics businesses in the near-term but might limit their scope for the export-led opportunities in the long-run as well.

We anticipate many more robotics use-cases developing over the forthcoming years as the price of robots continue to fall whilst the cost-of-labour increases. (The minimum wage in the UK is rising 6.2% this year to £8.72 per hour.) Increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence capabilities are allowing robotic platforms to act with greater autonomy and precision, addressing ever more nuanced and unpredictable tasks. Further to this, continued advancements in computing-power and communication networks will support the increasing adoption of ‘plug-and-play’ robots by small and medium-sized businesses and open-up sectors that are currently untouched by widespread robotics adoption.

Trends which we believe drive growing levels of robotic adoption, namely falling global productivity, shrinking labour pools and increasing personal workloads, show few signs abating. We see some of biggest opportunities for robotics in markets where it is difficult to hire and retain labour. Sectors such as construction, agriculture and elderly care seem particularly ripe for robotic disruption of this sort. We also expect that some categories of products and services which are currently scarce or uneconomic will become more abundant in the forthcoming decade because of their roboticisation. Potential candidate areas for this type of transformation may include: chauffeuring and other types of domestic service; localised environmental interventions; and highly individualised product customisations.

Whilst stereotypes of a roboticised future tend often to be dystopian, it is our view that the forthcoming changes are likely to be gradual yet widespread and in many ways unremarkable. Nonetheless, given the breadth of robotics invention currently underway, it’s safe to assume that capable autonomous devices will be playing a much greater role in everyone’s lives by the time the New Year chimes usher in the 2030s.

Britbots' Scale-Up Fund Closing Soon - Britbots

Thu, 26 Sep 2019 22:08:46 GMT

Britbots creates funding and support solutions to maximise the value-growth of those companies developing the next generation of intelligent autonomous machines that promise to transform our world.

Launched earlier in 2019, the British Robotics Scale-Up Fund is soon to close, raising £8 million in funds to accelerate a select set of fast-growing businesses encompassing a wide range of business sectors. Each investment made will have the potential for rapid growth and a potential exit within three to six years, although this is not guaranteed.

As labour costs increase and the price of a robot falls, the adoption and application of robotics, automation and AI technology (“RAAI”) is boosting productivity and standards-of-living all around the world. Awareness of RAAI’s potential has been driving considerable M&A activity with globally announced transactions that already exceed US$100 billion in aggregate in the first half of 2019. As home to some of the world’s leading RAAI researchers and engineers, Britain continues to be an extremely active participant in this domain.

“Since 2017, Britbots has backed fifteen UK-based RAAI businesses. The new fund is now looking to provide scale-up funding to at least eight top-performing companies,” comments Dominic Keen, Britbots CEO. Britbots will back businesses with potential for exceptional growth and minimises investor risk by diversifying its portfolio across a broad range of sectors and formats.

All Britbots fund investments are EIS-qualifying thereby delivering offering attractive tax benefits to investors and all tax certificates are anticipated to be returned to investors this year and prior to the self-assessment deadline. “AI and robotics excite forward thinking investors who are well aware of the UK’s technology prowess,” adds Jodi Bartin, CEO of investment banking firm Citicourt & Co who has partnered with Britbot to successfully deliver this 4th fund for Britbots.

For further information contact:

Dominic Keen (CEO) - dominic@britbots.com
Alex Pejacsevich (COO) - alex@britbots.com
Jodi Bartin (Citicourt & Co Limited, CEO) - jodi@citicourtandco.com
Jamie Johnson (Citicourt & Co Limited, Corporate Finance) - jamie.johnson@citicourtandco.com

Britbots was founded in 2016 to support pioneering individuals and entrepreneurial organisations with compelling visions of a robotics-driven future. It delivers returns to investors by creating a new generation of intelligent autonomous machines that promise to transform our world.

Citicourt & Co is a leading financial services firm established in 1991 and offers buy and sell side M&A, debt and institutional equity fundraising, MBOs and restructuring, and debt and corporate finance advisory services.

References:

· Statista forecasts the global market for industrial and non-industrial robots to reach US$498bn by 2025 - https://www.statista.com/statistics/760190/worldwide-robotics-market-revenue/

· RoboGlobal 1H 2019 report, reports US$15.2 billion of M&A in robotics and US$88 billion in AI - https://www.roboglobal.com/insights/white_papers/robotics-automation-and-ai-ma-on-the-rise/

· “Some of the world's leading robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) researchers are based in the UK, where they are working to harness the technology to address some of the biggest challenges facing humanity.”

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the UK in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Futr.ai raises £2.4m | Seed Funding Companies - Britbots

Tue, 30 Jul 2019 09:28:49 GMT

Congratulations to Britbots' portfolio company Futr.ai who have successfully raised £2.4 million in seed funding from Praetura Ventures.

Find out more at: https://www.uktech.news/guest-posts/funding/ai-start-up-futr-raises-2-4m-seed-funding-20190726

Futr is builds chatbots using conversational AI to engage customers using natural language.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the UK in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Humanising Autonomy Raises £5.3m | Investment - Britbots

Thu, 20 Jun 2019 13:25:00 GMT

Congratulations to Britbots' portfolio company Humanising Autonomy who have successfully raised £5.3 million in seed funding from a consortium of investors by Anthemis, with participation from Japan’s Global Brain, Germany’s Amplifier and SV’s Synapse Partners.

Find out more at https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/19/humanising-autonomy-pulls-in-5m-to-help-self-driving-cars-keep-an-eye-on-pedestrians/

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the UK in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

How Britbots Makes Investment Decisions | About Us - Britbots

Sun, 24 Feb 2019 22:58:19 GMT

We are often asked about the basis on which Britbots makes investment decisions.

Clearly there are core principles which we look for in start-ups which we share with almost all other venture investors regardless of their specialism. Is the market large enough? Does the proposed solution work; and is this the right team of people to execute it? Is the solution scale-able and how defensible is it? Is there some indication of initial traction? Does the start-up’s proposed valuation allow us to reach our target ownership levels? And so on.

That said, unlike many other investors, our decisions are made through the additional lens of focusing our funds on companies whose product and service offerings look to counter what we see as three major economic problems facing the world today: falling labour productivity, increasing workloads and a contracting global labour pool.

We believe that robotics-, automation- and AI-orientated companies will become a significant global economic growth engine as productivity and the availability of labour, which have traditionally driven economic growth on a micro and marco level for the last 50 years, continue to wane. Certainly, over the next decade we believe that companies will seek to automate almost all types of direct labour inputs where there is technical potential to do so, given the widening gap between rising labour costs and falling robotics costs.

As such, to the typical venture fund shopping list above we add two further criteria: Does the start-up’s solution create large scale productivity improvements over existing solutions to the same problem? And can it execute this solution in a capital-efficient manner?

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the UK in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email alex@britbots.com

Britbots Launches British Robotics Scale-Up Fund - Britbots

Fri, 01 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

A new opportunity to back top-performing British robotics & AI companies

Britbots is proud today to launch the British Robotics Scale-Up Fund, which complements the British Robotics seed funds that have been raised over the last two years.

The objective of this new fund is to make targeted scale-up investments into robotics, AI, automation or autonomous vehicle businesses that have already shown initial commercial traction. It is anticipated the majority of the fund’s investee companies will be sourced from the top-performers within the existing Britbots portfolio.

Robotics and automation are general-purpose technologies that are applicable to a wide range of industries. In the past, other general-purpose technologies such as steam, electricity or the Internet have had driven a profound value-creation impact by boosting productivity.

Given this diversity of applications, the Scale-Up Fund portfolio is expected to encompass a wide range of business sectors. Each investment made will have the potential for rapid growth and a potential exit within three to six years, although this is not guaranteed.

Each investee company will be supported by the investment manager, Sapphire Capital Partners LLP, and the company mentor, Britbots. Mentoring activities will look to develop the commercial aspects of the businesses and ensure that capital is deployed appropriately.

Britbots Launches Second Robotics and AI Fund - Britbots

Tue, 09 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Martlesham, 9 Januaray 2018. Britbots, the organisation dedicated to promoting U.K.-based robotics companies, and Sapphire Capital Partners, a specialist manager of tax-efficient funds, today announces the launch of the second British Robotics Seed Fund. The new fund follows the success of the first fund, which has now been fully invested, leading the seed rounds of six high-potential robotics and AI (artificial intelligence) related ventures.

The new fund will be predominantly focused on SEIS-qualifying investment opportunities thereby delivering the most significant tax benefits to investors, nonetheless there will be scope for the fund to make a number of investments under the EIS scheme when there are scale-up opportunities for existing portfolio companies. Further information is available at www.britbots.com/fund

There has been rapid increase in the number of robotics-related start-ups and the fund looks to partner with entrepreneurs and academic robotics teams to deliver high-value businesses that can deliver superior returns for investors.

In a climate where returns on listed investments are constrained, exploiting the rapid global adoption of robotics and AI systems whilst also benefiting from attractive tax reliefs under SEIS/EIS makes for an exciting high-growth investment strategy, as part of a broader portfolio. Opportunities for significant investment returns in this sector are becoming widespread, with more than 50 robotics and automation companies being acquired over the last year, for a total consideration of more than £20 billion.

The second fund will look to back world-class entrepreneurs with global product opportunities. There will be a particular focus on machine-learning and enabling technologies for autonomous robotics. Britbots meets with hundreds of businesses each year and has already earmarked a number of exciting businesses as potential investments for the fund.

Dominic Keen, founder of Britbots commented, "I'm delighted to be able to launch our second robotics fund. It is the best way for an investor to get access to a mixed basket of shares in the exciting robotics and AI growth companies that are shaping our economy for the decades ahead."

Thiago Azevedo of ZOA Robotics, a recipient of seed funding via the first British Robotics Seed Fund, added, “The British Robotics Seed Fund is unique in providing a specialist funding source for robotics entrepreneurs like myself. In addition to the investment provided, they’ve taken an active role in business, using their expertise to focus our strategy and execution.”

The fund will close at the end of March 2018.

Alex Davies Interviews Dominic Keen | British Robotics - Britbots

Tue, 24 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT

LONDON 24 October 2017. Dominic Keen sets out the investment objectives of the British Robotics Seed Fund.

Alex Davies: Hello I'm Alex Davies, Founder of Wealth Club, and today I'm with Dominic Keen of the British Robotics Seed Fund, also now sometimes known as Britbots. Hello, Dominic.

Dominic Keen: Hello, Alex.

Alex Davies: First can you tell me about the British Robotics Seed Fund, what exactly is it and what is its aim for investors?

Dominic Keen: Sure. I guess I believe that robotics and automation is likely to be one of the significant themes in the global economy over the next five or ten years, and so the Fund really looks to back relatively early-stage businesses which are riding along this global trend, with the target of generating large returns for investors from being in robotics at a relatively early stage.

Alex Davies: So this is a reasonably new fund. What's your experience prior to this?

Dominic Keen: My early career was as an engineer and then I moved into professional investing, working with an early-stage venture capital fund which invested in software and semiconductors. And then about 10 years ago I started my own software business which floated about four years ago now, and has been worth around 60 or 70 million pounds on the London stock market, so I have experience both as a professional investor and as an entrepreneur who's got significant exits in the past, and I really look to bring those sort of skill sets into the Fund's investment portfolio.

What sort of companies are you looking for? There's obviously the robotics element of it but are there common themes in the companies you choose?

Dominic Keen: Robotics is a fascinating area because it's really moving into almost every sector and vertical, potentially has the ability to be transformed to some extent by robotics and automation, but I guess the things that we really look for are experienced founders who take a sort of pragmatic view to building the companies. We want to find things where a small team can make a really really big difference, and also looking for areas where the business don't require an awful lot of capital to get somewhere down the line. So there's a lot of interesting businesses which are starting to emerge in this area.

Alex Davies: How do you find these opportunities?

Dominic Keen: I get a pretty good deal flow coming across my desk simply because I am a specialist investor in robotics and I've got quite a good network in this area, so a lot of young robotics and automation businesses in the country tend to come and sort of pitch me, and I'm seeing three or four companies a weeks. So we're getting a good view on the landscape and the potential deals.

Alex Davies: So you're one fund down, could you give me a flavour of some of the companies you've invested in so far and why you chose them?

Dominic Keen: There've been some really exciting companies in the first portfolio, so we've got a couple of traditional robot platforms, if you like, so there's a four-legged robot product called ZOA Robotics which effectively moves materials around construction sites or places which have uneven ground. We've got a very interesting drone company called Tethered Drone Systems which effectively has a drone on a wire, which means that the drone can stay up in the air almost indefinitely and do a whole variety of sort of surveillance and broadcasting tasks from up to 300 metres in the sky.

There's also a lot of activity in the area of artificial intelligence for customer services, so providing chat bots and human equivalents for sort of question and answers. Some interesting companies in terms of component elements for robotics, their control systems, and then also an interesting deal which I actually did yesterday was a company which creates systems for kids to learn about robotics in schools, so provides educational content and robotic content for learning about robots. So a really really broad selection of companies from actual robots at one end to some of the sort of infrastructure and supporting type companies at the other end.

Alex Davies: There's two things we hear about all the time now, AI and robotics, so is there a kind of a bubble there with money just pouring into these things?

Dominic Keen: I think all the sort of evidence shows that the global economy over the next decade is really going to be transformed by some of these developments in automation and robotisation. It's a very significant theme and some of the winning companies of the future are being born now, so it's a great time for investors to come into this space and get some exposure to these companies.

Alex Davies: Exits, clearly you haven't had any exits yet but what sort of time frame are you looking for and how are you going to exit these companies?

Dominic Keen: In terms of the exit, we'll be really looking at that after the three-year maturity period of the SEIS investment has come through. There are a number of potential options. Obviously route A for every company is to either look for a significant trade sale or even an IPO. In some cases that might be a more pragmatic exit which is involved in taking the technology that has been developed in the company and bolting it into some other format, or even potentially some secondary sales where some of our portfolio companies go into secondary investors and provide an exit route there. So I think we're looking at an exit window of between three and eight years for the whole portfolio. Probably the bigger exits will take a little bit longer to come through, but investors should be getting their money back in that kind of time span.

Alex Davies: What's the expected return?

Dominic Keen: Basically the reality is that some of the businesses won't succeed. We work very very actively in the businesses, spending three or four days a month with the companies, so we're expecting a good number of them to get money back plus to the investors, and there's likely to be one or two real stars in the portfolio who could deliver really sort of significant returns, so we need to balance that all out. We're looking at sort of three times plus on an initial investment in the portfolio.

Alex Davies: We'll have to emphasise, this is very high risk stuff, these are very small companies.

Dominic Keen: Sure.

Alex Davies: And potentially all of them could fail, but as you say, you could get one or two that could do exceptionally well and you can make many times your money back.

Dominic Keen: Yes, and I think it fits really well into the SEIS wrapper because the investor gets a lot of protection just from the tax gearing that's involved in that, and as you say, the potential for building some really really big home-run companies in this area is significant.

Alex Davies: Thanks very much, Dominic. Before you go, perhaps you could just tell me, I'm going to invest in an SEIS this year. Why should I invest in yours?

Dominic Keen: I think what we offer investors is a really exciting combination of exposure to this very, very significant global investment theme of robotisation and automation whilst at the same time de-risking it in kind of three ways. Firstly by having a portfolio approach so that an investor gets their investment spread across a range of different types of companies in different sectors, and secondly obviously the SEIS wrapper gives a lot of tax protection for the investor, and then finally we mentor and work closely with all the portfolio companies to quite a large degree to really bring our expertise to bear on the companies and help de-risk the overall portfolio for the investors. So on one side, very very high growth potential and returns, with quite a lot of activity to balance out the downside risk for investors.

Alex Davies: Dominic Keen of the British Robotics Seed Fund, thank you very much.

Dominic Keen: Thank you.

British Robotics Seed Fund announces investment - Britbots

Tue, 10 Oct 2017 00:00:00 GMT

BotSkill has secured £250,000 investment led by the British Robotics Seed Fund (BRSF). The investment is the second in an ongoing series that have been made into UK’s robotics-focussed start-ups by the fund.

Botskill is also raising further investment on the new and complementary robotics crowdfunding platform Britbots CROWD ( http://crowd.britbots.com ).

London-based BotSkill has developed unique technology to take the pain out of business bots, and will use the funding to develop its SaaS platform and grow its team. BotSkill’s SaaS proposition comes at a critical juncture, with analysts predicting that by 2020, 80% of businesses will have a chatbot as a communication channel for customers, partners or employees.

A chatbot is a computer programme that mimics human conversation using artificial intelligence. It can be delivered by voice, living in devices such as Alexa or Google Home, or text in messaging apps such as Skype, Facebook Messenger and What’s App.

The company is building a SaaS platform that provides fast no-code chatbot generation for businesses, powered by artificial intelligence. The service enables businesses to tap into an explosive new direct marketing channel, increased customer personalisation and predictive data analytics.

BotSkill customers sign up to a SaaS and follow the easy steps, it is possible to have a best-in-class chatbot / skill up and running in less than 15 minutes - there’s even a free option. In addition, it’s a bespoke service that can ingest customer data, offer thousands of sector specific dialogue patterns and single deployment multi-channel distribution across chat and voice.

Botskill has recently secured the Northamptonshire Police Crime Commission to its growing list of customers.

Andy Wilkins, CEO & Co-Founder, BotSkill said: “We’re thrilled to work with the British Robotics Seed Fund. With the management team’s strong track record, we feel their investment is a real endorsement of our vision. Their team also offers a wealth of experience which we can tap into to help us achieve our ambitious growth plans.”

Dominic Keen, CEO of Britbots and founder of the British Robotics Seed Fund, concluded: “We believe that we will be speaking to computers a lot more over the upcoming years, and were impressed by the pragmatic and ambitious plans the Botskill’s team have to becoming a leader in this market place.

“Botskill joins our initial portfolio and demonstrates the innovative British ventures in the dynamic field of artificial intelligence and bots. Investment from the BRSF is just the start for Botskill, and now a wider number of investors can help the company reach its next milestone through the BritbotsCROWD platform, where we look to reach the company’s £350,000 funding target.”

http://www.britbots.com/

http://www.botskill.co.uk

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the UK in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email dominic@britbots.com

British Robotics Seed Fund announces investment - Britbots

Fri, 29 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMT

MARTLESHAM, SUFFOLK 28 September 2017. Biologically inspired robots company secures funding.

ZOA Robotics has secured seed investment from the British Robotics Seed Fund (BRSF). The investment is the first of a series that have been made by the UK’s robotics-focussed investment firm, and is in a company that is raising further investment on the new and complementary robotics crowdfunding platform Britbots CROWD.

ZOA Robotics’ goal is to develop four-legged robots with the grace of animals that can move anywhere. The company is looking to introduce its low cost highly mobile robots to tackle movement of goods across sites with uneven ground and multiple levels, reducing the use of manual labour to move payloads around. The investment will be used to scale up the existing prototype to carry heavier loads, and implement machine learning for improved control and autonomy.

The robots, dynamic by design and lightweight, are targeted at businesses operating on large or remote sites with uneven terrain where items need moving and where wheels struggle. This includes oil rigs, industrial process plants and construction sites.

ZOA’s robots boost productivity and safety. When used for logistics, the robots reduce workers time spent on fetching parts, equipment or consumables. While remote inspection and maintenance via robots means that workers no longer need to visit hazardous environments.

Thiago Azevedo, the founder and CEO of ZOA Robotics commented: “We are building a four-legged robot about the size of a dog. Customers need only tell it where to go, and the robot automatically negotiates obstacles, uneven terrain and stairs.

“We have a great team with extensive experience in robotics, manufacturing and a focus on customer value proposition. BRSF has been an incredible help in refining our business model and plan. The team’s knowledge and experience is extremely valued as ZOA Robotics establishes itself in this competitive sector.”

A highly experienced entrepreneur, Azevedo has worked as the Commercial Director at Shadow Robot, where he turned the company around, fixed management lines, production and sales. He was also the Commercial Director and co-founder of MGT Teesside, an independent power company which raised £950 million in project finance raised, and is now under construction.

Dominic Keen, CEO of Britbots concluded: “The business is just one of the exciting British robotics start-up we are supporting. Our initial portfolio is shaping up well and demonstrates the innovative British ventures in this dynamic field. However, the investment from the BRSF is just the start. We have now also put the company on our crowdfunding platform and are looking to raise £450,000 in total.”

www.zoarobotics.com

https:// britbots.envestry.com /deals/1545

http://www.britbots.com/

Britbots Launches Equity Crowdfunding Platform - Britbots

Fri, 29 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMT

MARTLESHAM, SUFFOLK 27 September 2017. Britbots, the mentoring organisation devoted to supporting British-based robotics start-ups, has today launched Britbots CROWD, the world's first dedicated equity crowd-funding platform for high potential companies in field of robotics and associated technologies.

Many of the companies listed will have already been back by the British Robotics Seed Fund http://www.britbots.com/fund which raised in excess of £500,000 in its first fund, and will announce the opening of its second fund later this autumn.

As automation and robotisation drive significant productivity improvements across the global economy, the Britbots CROWD platform gives private investors the opportunity to build up a personal share-portfolio comprising of some of the most exciting companies at the leading-edge of this important contemporary investment theme.

Each of the companies listed on the platform will accept a minimum investment amount of £200, putting their shares well within the reach of mainstream investors. Additionally, most of the companies offer investors attractive tax incentives under SEIS or EIS; and they benefit from active mentoring and business development support from Britbots, raising the likelihood of delivering attractive downstream returns to investors.

Over the forthcoming weeks a selection of exciting companies will open for investment on the platform http://crowd.britbots.com , including:

ZOA ROBOTICS: a company that has developed of a low-cost robotics platform, allowing for the transportation of materials around uneven environments, using four-legged robots.

BOTSKILL: a business enables brands to take their first steps in using “bots” (computer programmes which mimic human conversation using artificial intelligence) to handle routine customer enquiries.

TETHERED DRONE TECHNOLOGIES: a provider of autonomous tethered drone systems, flying near-continuously for use in semi-permanent surveillance and communications scenarios.

REDBEARD: a software company that makes it easy to design and build user interface apps for smartphones to remotely control robots and other systems at distance.

FUTURE TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES – an organisation which provides tools and inspiration to help teachers teach computer programming in a practical and fun way, preparing students for a working-world where automation & robotics is widespread.

Dominic Keen, founder of Britbots, commented, “Whilst talking to investors about the British Robotics Seed Fund we realised that there was a broad appetite amongst investors to include some high-potential robotics businesses in their portfolio on a discretionary basis without necessarily going down the fund route. Hence we are delighted to have launched Britbots CROWD, the world’s only dedicated equity crowd-funding platform for robotics companies, giving investors direct access to this exciting class of investments for the first time.”

Thiago Azevedo, CEO of ZOA Robotics said, “I’m pleased to be working with Britbots CROWD to source new investors for our current funding round. It can be difficult to identify investors who are specifically interested in robotics companies when using other equity crowdfunding platforms and so I’m confident that Britbots CROWD will do a good job in filling this niche.”

The technology used by Britbots CROWD has been developed by Envestry, who also provide FCA-regulatory oversights for the company listings.

Further information is available at http://crowd.britbots.com .

About Britbots

High Growth Robotics Limited trading as Britbots is a business mentoring company that seeks to champion the achievements of robotics start-up across the UK. As well as administering the British Robotics Seed Fund, its activities include: consulting on growth strategies; professional training; and a think-tank on the use of robotics in public policy. ( www.britbots.com )

Offset Tax Liabilities in Current Tax Year - Britbots

Fri, 03 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Dominic Keen, founder of Britbots, describes how the SEIS “carry back” facility can be used to offset income tax liabilities in the 2016/17 tax year by bringing a mixed-basket of some of the most promising British robotics stocks into your portfolio.

Dominic Keen, founder of Britbots, describes how the SEIS “carry back” facility can be used to offset income tax liabilities in the 2016/17 tax year by bringing a mixed-basket of some of the most promising British robotics stocks into your portfolio.

The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) has been recently described by Mark Brownridge, Director-General of the EIS Association as “one of the most tax advantageous schemes in the world” on account of the five highly attractive tax benefits that have been wrapped into a single scheme. A normal higher-rate tax payer can have almost 70% of the risk of an SEIS-qualifying investment underwritten by HMRC and, if they have taxable capital gains to offset, the risk cover increases towards 85%. Once this very high level of tax shielding is combined with the potentially unlimited upside of investing in ultra-high growth businesses, it should be seen as an extremely important component of any longer-term investment portfolio.

With this in mind, funds are being launched to give investors access to the UK’s most promising new businesses, mitigating the inherent risks of angel investing by leveraging the tax-efficiencies of the SEIS wrapper.

For example, the British Robotics Seed Fund ( www.britbots.com/fund ) has recently been established to exploit one of today’s most exciting growth themes, robotics. As technical advances in automation and artificial intelligence continue to leap forward, robotics represents one of today’s most exciting investment areas. The UK is already home to a great deal of expert talent in this field.

As evidence, the first commercial flights of Amazon’s parcel delivery drones anywhere in the world began in the England this December. There’s every chance that a number of the world-leading robotics businesses of the future are currently being created in this country. The British Robotics Seed fund looks to give investors access to some of these attractive companies which have the potential to deliver multiple-fold returns to their early-stage backers in the years ahead.

Over and above the many tax incentives of SEIS, another feature of the scheme, “carry back”, represents an extra benefit for tax planning. Funds, such as the British Robotics Seed Fund, that are now currently raising capital will deploy the money being raised into investee companies through the first six months of the 2017/18 tax year.

Investors in the fund, however, are permitted to “carry back” these investments for the purposes of the 2016/17 tax year. This means that their investment can be used to offset tax liabilities in the current period thereby allowing investors to be more precise in their tax mitigation activities as the tax year-end approaches.

Furthermore, SEIS funds like the British Robotics Seed Fund may use additional tactics to further reduce risk and improve returns. Robotic technology can be applied to wide range of sectors including logistics and warehousing; agriculture; construction & civil engineering; low-volume manufacturing; domestic; facilities management and security; and specialist medical equipment.

Consequently the fund actively looks to spread the investments it makes across a broad range of these sectors and to back a variety of business types so that it can balance the company-specific risk to the fund investors. The British Robotic Fund also provides operational support from a proven, experienced mentor to each robotics team that it backs. In many cases, this allows technically proficient roboticists to gain access to broader business skills and, thereby, to become more likely to deliver a substantial cash exit to investors in the fund.

An investment in a SEIS fund is increasingly being seen as an important component of any growth-orientated personal portfolio that’s being built for a longer-term (five-year plus) horizon. Thanks to various risk reductions arising from the SEIS tax-shielding and the other mitigation strategies, these funds have a much lower risk profile than most other forms of equity investing and certainly carry significantly less risk than more conventional investments in unquoted businesses.

Whilst the nature of the investment class means that investors’ capital will be tied up for a number of years, the tax-adjusted returns have the potential to be extremely large and, given the inheritance tax exemption under SEIS, an investment may well be as suitable for an alternative retirement planning strategy as it is for investors who wish to shield against large income tax liabilities in the current tax year.

The marriage of the attractive tax benefits of SEIS with ultra-fast growing investment areas such as robotics seems to have created an exciting new investment class that ought to provide new avenues for investment portfolio planners to consider.

If you are an entrepreneur looking for pre-seed or seed investment in the UK in the automation, artificial intelligence or robotics space please email dominic@britbots.com

[First printed in GB Investments, 3rd February 2017]

Why Investing in Robots Makes Sense | Funding - Britbots

Wed, 25 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT

As automation and robotisation begin to drive significant productivity improvements across the global economy, we are all becoming increasingly aware of the important role that robots and artificial intelligence will play in our lives in the near future.

The promise of robotisation within many areas potentially suggests that we are at the dawn of a new industrial revolution that will spur on economic growth over future years. Consequently, robotics looks likely to emerge as one of the most active areas of early-stage investing in 2017. Furthermore, to the benefit of investors, the level of risk can now be greatly reduced by taking advantage of the significant tax efficiencies available through the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) that was first introduced in 2012.

Recent rapid falls in the cost of low-run component production (by use of 3D-printing) and the growing sophistication of cognitive computing packages have created an opportunity for leaner start-ups to cost-efficiently develop their ‘minimum viable product’ and demonstrate initial commercial viability of their robots.

Additionally, Robotics and Autonomous Systems has recently become a focus area for government-backed innovation grants, meaning that investments in this area are being further de-risked.

Until recently the vast majority of robots were sold to automate high-volume manufacturing tasks, however much of the excitement around the new generation of robotics start-ups appears to be focused on applications outside the factory. Robotics increasingly can be applied to a wide variety of activities across a range of business sectors such as logistics; agriculture; construction ; domestic appliances; security; or specialist medical equipment.

There is evidence to suggest that a vibrant scene for robotics innovation is beginning to emerge. British universities are home to some of the best robotics and artificial intelligence labs in the world and, as the pool of national expertise grows, we are now starting to see this spill out into applied commercial activities. Amazon Prime Air recently commenced the first field-tests of its autonomous drone-based parcel delivery service in the UK; Google DeepMind, based in London, continues to pioneer the application of cognitive computing to real-world problems; and Dyson has released its 360 Eye robotic vacuum-cleaner. Alongside headline-grabbing developments within institutions and corporations, we have witnessed an increasing numbers of robotics start-ups. Incubator programmes, such as the one at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, are now acting as a springboard for exciting young companies like Open Bionics and Reach Robotics.

The recent launch of the British Robotics Seed Fund ( www.britbots.com/fund ), the first SEIS-qualifying investment fund offering investors an opportunity to participate in a mixed basket of innovative businesses that are exploiting the new generation of robotic technologies, will allow promising businesses to finance their early activities and become well positioned to go on to become world-leaders. There are also now a number of ETF products aimed at providing robotics coverage in the public markets such as ROBO Global ( www.roboglobal.com ) and Robocap ( www.robocapfund.com) .

There are a few specific investment themes to look out for in 2017. Three which really stand out are: (1) Frugal robotics; (2) Addressing labour shortages; and (3) Moves towards full autonomy.

Frugal robotics is a trend looking to aggressively reduce the cost of robotics components and platforms so that the amount of upfront capital investment that a user is required to make can be minimised. London-based start-up Automata Technologies, a maker of low-cost robotic arms, won ABB’s global innovation challenge and is heading down this route by charging its customers a sub-£300 monthly fee for an arm, where currently an equivalently-specified alternative would cost more than £25,000.

Addressing labour shortages that have arisen from of a lack of human appetite for particular types of work is an obvious application-area for robotics. For example recently it has become extremely difficult to find agricultural labourers to work on British farms. Without this pool of labour, farmers are having to take a serious look at robotic substitutes. Dogtooth Technologies, the developer of a strawberry-picking robot, is undergoing trials with a number of major fruit-growers with an automated picker. Equally, labour shortages for carers-of-the-elderly are well documented with robotic solutions under development.

Whilst, in the popular imagination, robots are seen to be sophisticated and multi-functional , he current realty is very different. Successful robotics start-ups must address a specific problem-type. Building up to fully autonomous operation is essential to managing technology risk. In December, Just Eat made its first driverless take-away delivery in Greenwich in London using s a small land-based robotic cart developed by Starship Technologies. These carts can controlled by a remotely-based human operator as a pre-cursor to a fully autonomous system.

As the tools and expertise required to build a robotics business proliferate, expect in 2017 to see an explosion of robotic start-ups. With the substantial tax benefits available under SEIS, there are likely to be attractive investment opportunities available and there’s every reason to believe that this new crop of British robots will become important players for the future .

[First printed in Professional Adviser, 25th January 2017]

Benefits of SEIS and The Outlook | All about SEIS - Britbots

Thu, 12 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT

12 January 2017, Dominic Keen, founder of Britbots, interviews Mark Brownridge, Director-General of the Enterprise Investment Association

TRANSCRIPT

Dominic Keen: What is the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, SEIS?

Mark Brownridge: EIS has been going for over 20 years now. It's raised over £1.2 billion that's been put into over 20,000 small companies. Seed EIS (SEIS) is EIS's little brother. It started in 2012 looking at even smaller start-up companies. EIS is perhaps more aligned to companies that are slightly further down the growth journey there.

In terms of Seed EIS and what it's trying to give to investors, one of the main benefits of Seed EIS is the tax reliefs. Seed EIS is one of the most tax advantageous schemes in the world. It can be split down into five different areas.

So, the first one is income tax relief. Seed EIS gives you 50% income tax relief immediately. So, if you make a £10,000 investment, you immediately get 5,000 back courtesy of the taxman at that rate.
Secondly, there's CGT re-investment relief. This is where, if you have a gain from another investment, that you've come out of, you immediately can reinvest that gain into EIS and get tax relief for 14% on that gain.
Thirdly, there's no CGT on exit. Again, if you've made a £10,000 investment and it happily goes to £20,000, there's no CGT to be paid on the gain of £10,000 that you've made there.
Fourthly, there's the inheritance tax relief. Once you've made your Seed EIS investment and you've gone through a two year holding period or waiting period, there's no IHT payable at that time. IHT is exempt on the investment that you've made. So, if you made, again, £10,000 investment, there's no 40% tax relief to be paid on that investment.
Finally, the share loss relief whereby if your investment doesn't do so well, if you lose all your money for an investment, God forbid, you can have share loss relief where by you get 45% of tax relief on your marginal rate of tax. Again, more tax relief to be had.

So, five effective tax reliefs in one investment.

Dominic Keen: How can a Seed EIS fund like the British Robotics Seed Fund help investors diversify their portfolios?

Mark Brownridge: So, I think this is a really exciting time for Seed EIS investments at the moment. We've seen over the last few years, as I said earlier since Seed EIS came in 2012, some of the earlier investments starting to come through and we're starting to see some exits from Seed EIS, which is fantastic and that really helps those Seed EIS funds that are coming through now.

What we're seeing also is a greater diversity in the Seed EIS market. So, we're seeing different asset classes, different types of industries, different type of sectors that these investments are being made in. So, I think the key thing for anyone looking to invest in Seed EIS, they should get a portfolio of seed investments, so rather than one or two that you just concentrate your money in. You might want to spread that money between 5, 6, 7, 8, even perhaps up to 10, or 12, or 15 and really get a good spread of investments, different sectors, different types of businesses. That way your returns will be much more significant, perhaps, than they would be if you just put them into one company.

Dominic Keen: How do Seed EIS investments help the development of an emerging sector like robotics?

Mark Brownridge: I think the introduction of robotics as an investment for Seed EIS is a really exciting opportunity for a number of reasons, really. What we've seen with Seed EIS is that this is pretty much the type of investments that a Seed EIS is brought in for. To help really small companies that are just starting out on their growth journey to be able to get the funding they need to start and then grow and build. So, it's a really opportune time for robotics to come into this industry because Seed EIS gives you that initial burst of money that you need perhaps to take through to start your growth journey and go through to second, third and fourth rounds of funding going on into the future.

Dominic Keen: What's new in the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme for 2017?

Mark Brownridge: As always, there's a lot going on in both the EIS word and Seed EIS world. I think at the moment, we've seen over the last few years that EIS and Seed EIS have been fairly old school, traditional schemes. What we're slowly starting to see is more and more innovation, more development in both the Seed and the EIS industry. There's more sectors coming in, more asset classes, and more types of businesses as well, so I think for entrepreneurs this is a really exciting time.

Robotics Fund to Strengthen Local Industry - Britbots

Mon, 02 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT

02 January 2017, Eugine Demaitre of the Robotics Business Review interviews Dominic Keen, founder of Britbots

The U.K. has a strong academic and research base, but it has lagged behind other countries in Europe and beyond in terms of having a robotics fund for commercialisation. Last month, High Growth Robotics Ltd. ( www.britbots.com ) launched the first investment fund for U.K.-based robotics startups. High Growth Robotics cited a study by market research firm Tractica LLC that predicted the global robotics market will grow at 45 percent and “approach a quarter of a trillion dollars by 2021.” The British Robotics Seed Fund is meant to encourage U.K. innovation and provide a means of support that complies with the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) for tax benefits.

Business Takeaways:

• The British Robotics Seed Fund is the first dedicated robotics fund in the U.K. and is meant to help bridge the gap between R&D and commercialization

• Establishing the fund took time because of the need to comply with regulations and offer tax breaks, which could be complicated by the “Brexit.”

• Dominic Keen, founder of High Growth Robotics, described the challenges faced in setting up the fund, which has drawn interest from investors in the U.K. and China.

That’s not to say that robotics in the U.K. hasn’t received significant investment. Last summer, Icon Plastics in Stockton-on-Tees received £200,000 so that it could hire robotics staffers. London-based EY (formerly Ernst & Young) plans to reinvest its record revenue into artificial intelligence and robotics. And Demon Drillers Ltd. in October invested £120,000 in robotic demolition equipment. But until now, there hasn’t been a robotics fund for investors to assess the risks and rewards of this technology. Startup incubators exist, but young companies still need help making the leap from prototype to commercialisation. The British Robotics Seed Fund will provide £300,000 to £400,000 to up to 12 startups per year for robots that serve the agriculture, construction, household, and logistics industries. Sapphire Capital Partners LLP will manage the $2.2 million fund with High Growth Robotics, which will find and mentor robotics entrepreneurs so that they can move beyond the seed stage to full commercialisation. The fund is open to investors with a minimum of £10,000 and to SEIS-qualified robotics companies. It closes on March 31, 2017. Dominic Keen, the founder of High Growth Robotics, is an engineer by training and responded to Robotics Business Review‘s questions below.

Why did take some time to organize this robotics fund? What sorts of challenges or obstacles did you encounter?

Keen: The key challenge has been to put in place an approved regulatory structure for the fund because raising an investment vehicle aimed an early-stage, unlisted businesses is tightly controlled by U.K. securities law. It has been important to get the tax structuring correct so that investors in the fund can gain access to the very attractive tax incentives that are on offer for this type of investment. I chose to work with Sapphire Capital Partners, [which is] authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority and could act as approved fund managers as well as set up an appropriate compliance structure for the fund. All this has taken time.

What levels of interest have you received from investors? Do you have any international partnerships?

Keen: Investors in the fund are private individuals and families who pay taxes in the U.K., and interest has been strong so far, as people increasingly want to include some robotics upside plays in their portfolios. Whilst the focus is on technology created in the U.K., we are in early dialogue with prospective Chinese partners to open up some generic distribution channels there. I anticipate that this model may be recreated in other regions.

Why are there so few robotics funds so far? How is this an opportunity for High Growth Robotics and Sapphire?

Keen: Until recently, early-stage investors in Britain have treated hardware start-ups with a certain amount of skepticism due to the high level of costs traditionally associated with bringing products to market. However, the rapid fall in the cost of low-run component production (using 3D printing, etc.) and the growing sophistication of widely available cognitive computing packages has meant that there is an emerging opportunity for much leaner start-ups to develop minimum viable products and establish commercial viability. This is the focus for the British Robotics Seed Fund.

Can you name some prominent laboratories and research institutions that readers in the U.S. or elsewhere may not know?

Keen: In my opinion, the two standout robotics laboratories are the Bristol Robotics Laboratory and the Dyson Laboratory at Imperial College. Additionally, there’s a lot of cognitive computing action in London at present, with companies following the trail of DeepMind.

What criteria will you be using to select the first 12 investment recipients? Have you been in talks with any robotics firms?

Keen: The robotics fund will typically invest in a robotics business with some of the following characteristics:

• It provides a solution to a problem that requires physical manipulation of real-world objects (as opposed to fully virtualized systems);

• The technology road map is likely to ultimately lead to autonomous system operations in time;

• “Frugal robotics” sales models — such as robots as a service (RaaS) — which require minimal capital investment by the buyer, are likely to be preferred;

• Where relevant, the business model should deliver at least a 200 percent performance improvement versus existing solutions to the same problem;

• The business model should start to generate cash within 12 months of the initial investment and have a credible hypothesis on how it will create a return for investors;

• and Investee companies will be chosen based on their potential for an attractive exit.

The fund is in preliminary dialogue with more than 20 potential investee companies across an extremely broad range of sectors.

What are the growth prospects for the robotics industry in the U.K.? Which sectors are likely to experience the most investment and adoption?

Keen: Over recent decades, the U.K. has become increasingly early-adopting and start-up-friendly and, whilst the country is less likely to build large state-sponsored robotics ventures as might be seen in other developed countries, it is the home to large world-class talent pools in design and technology. My belief is that the high levels of creativity of British technologists lend themselves to building lean, non-traditional robotics start-ups in sectors such as public and consumer services, environment, or construction, which are currently relatively un-automated. The recent commencement of field trials of Amazon Prime Air in England demonstrates the current warm climate for innovation in autonomous technologies.

Did the so-called Brexit vote affect your plans, and if so, how? Will there be extra regulatory hurdles as the U.K. extricates itself from the EU?

Keen: The Brexit vote offers both opportunities and threats for U.K. robotics On one hand, restrictions on EU migration into the U.K. are likely to result in significant labor shortages in areas of the economy such as service sectors and care of the elderly, creating space for automated alternatives. Furthermore in some industries, such as agriculture, EU policy has been seen to put a significant drag on innovation. However, on the other hand, increased barriers to EU markets for robot exports and more general economic perils arising from the unraveling of free-trade arrangements are likely to be somewhat detrimental to the development of British-based robotics businesses.

More on British Robotics and Investments:

• U.K. Innovation Gets Funding, Guidance From British Government

• British Robotics Must Catch Up to Global Competitors ( https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/britishrobotics-must-catch-global-competitors/ )

• London Robotics Company Considers Options After Brexit ( https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/londonrobotics-company-considers-options-brexit/ )

• British Survey Highlights Public Perceptions of Driverless Car Safety ( https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/british-survey-highlights-public-perceptions-driverless-car-s... )

• How Will the ‘Brexit’ Affect U.K. Industrial Automation?( https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/will-brexitaffect-u-k-industrial-automation/ )

• Taiwanese and U.K. Robotics Sectors Forming Strong Links ( https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/taiwanese_and_u_k_robotics_sectors_forming_strong_links/ )

• Are British Manufacturing and Industrial Automation Turning a Corner? ( https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/are_u_k_manufacturing_and_industrial_automation_turning_a_cor... )

• U.K. Companies Grab a Slice of the Surgical Robotics Market ( https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/u_k_companies_grab_a_slice_of_the_surgical_robotics_market/ )

• The U.K. and Ireland Lead the Way in Marine Robotics ( https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/the_uk_and_ireland_lead_the_way_in_marine_robotics/ )

• Network to Boost U.K. Robotics Capabilities ( https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/new_network_to_boost_u-k-_robotics_capabilities/ ) ]

About the interviewer - Eugene Demaitre ( https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/author/eugene/ ) Eugene Demaitre is Senior Web Editor for Robotics Business Review. Prior to joining EH Publishing in the Boston area, he worked as an editor at BNA, Computerworld, and TechTarget. Demaitre has a master's degree in international affairs from the George Washington University.

First British Robotics Seed Fund launches - Britbots

Fri, 16 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT

The focus of the Fund is to deliver returns to Investors by making targeted investments in promising UK-based seed-stage robotics companies wrapped within a fund format that is highly tax efficient (under the Seed Enterprise InvestmentScheme, “SEIS”).

Automation and robotisation are beginning to drive significant productivity improvements across the global economy, making it one of today’s most exciting investment themes. According to market intelligence firm Tractica, robotics is set to grow at rates in excess of 45% with the global market to approach a quarter of trillion dollars by 2021 .

There are currently no specialist UK investment vehicles to provide financial backing and strategic support for early stage robotics companies with compelling business in concepts. Therefore, the Fund offers investors a unique opportunity to participate in a selection of the most innovative and disruptive businesses that are exploiting the new generation of robotic technologies.

The fund will invest in up to 12 robotics start-ups each year across a broad range of sectors including, construction, logistics, agriculture and domestic robots.

World-class robotics laboratories in the United Kingdom are home to some of the finest robot-engineering talent and the Fund looks, via partnerships with theses labs and incubators, to help convert this inherent potential into successful world-class companies.

The British Robotics Seed Fund is being managed by Sapphire Capital Partners LLP in partnership with High Growth Robotics Limited ( www.britbots.com ) which will help identify the investments and provide mentoring services to the robotics entrepreneurs and start-ups with which the fund works. The fund is open to professional or sophisticated investors with a minimum of £10,000 to invest and who are looking to enhance their investment portfolio with high growth robotics businesses. SEIS-qualifying robotics companies are being encouraged to apply.

High Growth Robotics Ltd is led by Dominic Keen, a successful British entrepreneur. Having previously floated the software business that he founded on the London Stock Exchange, he now helps exciting ventures to maximise their growth potential. An engineer by background, he is fascinated by robotics and acts as an evangelist in the field.

Boyd Carson, CEO of Sapphire Capital Partners LLP commented on the launch: “Robotics represents one of today’s most exciting investment themes and investors now have the opportunity to enhance their portfolio with a mixed basket of exciting early-stage robotics businesses whilst also befitting from the significant tax advantages of SEIS”.

Dominic Keen, CEO of High Growth Robotics Limited, concluded: “I genuinely believe that some of the world’s finest robotics businesses are currently being established in the UK and the British Robotics Seed Fund is ideally positioned to ensure that these companies are able to maximise their future success”.

The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) was designed to boost economic growth in the UK by promoting new enterprise and entrepreneurship, and offers tax efficient investing in return for investment in small and early stage start-up businesses in the UK.

The fund closes on 31 March 2017.

Sapphire Capital Partners LLP (“Sapphire”) is a specialist investment management firm authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority. Sapphire have verified and approved the contents of this announcement for the purposes of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“Act”).

Notes to Editors:

Sapphire Capital Partners LLP is a specialist investment management firm established to provide, among other services, investment management services and bespoke SEIS and EIS solutions. Sapphire Capital Partners LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with firm reference number 565716.

High Growth Robotics Limited is a business mentoring company that seeks to champion the achievements of robotics start-up across the UK. Its services include: consulting on growth strategies; publicity via presentations and articles; and a think-tank on the use of robotics in public policy. ( www.britbots.com 0330 808 1980)