Heinz Ferchau joins Innok Robotics

Growth market mobile robots: Entrepreneur Heinz Ferchau joins Innok Robotics - financing round of over 5 million euros for "Scale up"

Regensburg, 21.12.2022 - The German technology company Innok Robotics, a developer and manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots (AMR) that can also be used outdoors, has brought a new major investor on board. Entrepreneur Heinz Ferchau, founder of Ferchau Engineering, one of Germany's largest engineering service providers, has provided Innok Robotics with 4 million euros in equity as part of a financing round, thereby acquiring a significant stake in the company.

The financing round, which has just been closed, has a total volume of 5 million euros. In addition to Ferchau, other new and existing investors participated in the financing, including the German SME investor Prolimity Capital Partners. Prolimity joined Innok Robotics in September 2021 and continues to hold a majority stake together with the company founders after the financing round.

The investment in Innok Robotics is Heinz Ferchau's first private scale-up investment. "I am extremely convinced of the quality and opportunities of the technology that Innok Robotics is developing. I was particularly impressed by the outdoor capabilities of Innok Robotics' AMRs, which I have not seen anywhere else," says Heinz Ferchau. "Innok Robotics is also a highly dynamic company with very capable engineers. This is 'German engineering at its best', and I am delighted to be able to support Innok Robotics in its global conquest of the rapidly growing AMR market."

Innok Robotics, founded in 2012, is one of the technology leaders in the global AMR market, which is currently estimated to be worth 3 billion US dollars. Market researchers expect the market to grow by over 50 percent per year over the next few years as AMR technology continues to develop. It is expected to reach a volume of 14 billion dollars by 2026.

Innok Robotics develops fully integrated AMR systems that include both software and vehicle hardware as well as state-of-the-art 2D and 3D sensor technology based on artificial intelligence. Innok Robotics' software, laser scanners and high-precision GPS technology enable fully autonomous operation of AMRs both indoors and outdoors. The high-tech company from Regensburg is already working with well-known industrial groups such as TotalEnergies, HILTI, Infineon, K+S, Daimler, Nokia, E.on and the Landgard Group.

"The successful financing round is a real turbo for our current entry into the scale-up phase in the coming years, in which we will realize significant sales growth," says Innok Robotics founder, CEO and Chief Technology Officer Alwin Heerklotz. "On behalf of the entire team, I would like to thank the investors for their confidence in our company and our technology. Together, we will make Innok Robotics one of the world's leading players in outdoor-capable AMR technology in the coming years."

Innok Robotics will use the additional capital to finance the increase in personnel required for its planned growth. The company is primarily planning to hire new engineers, software developers and sales managers. Further funds will be used to build up working capital in order to be able to offer customers AMRs with very short delivery times and to support the ramp-up of in-house production and production by partners. Founder Alwin Heerklotz: "With top new hires and expanded capacities, we have everything we need to accelerate our growth even further and multiply our turnover in the coming years."

Innok Robotics has already initiated the scale-up phase: In the current 2022 financial year, turnover will more than double compared to the previous year. The outdoor AMR pioneer expects even higher growth rates in the coming year. "Our growth plans are underpinned by numerous trade fair participations, strong interest from the market and advanced talks with other well-known industry partners," reports Heerklotz.

In addition to the core business areas of transportation/intralogistics, irrigation/agriculture and inspection/monitoring, Innok Robotics will grow in other application areas for AMR systems. These include autonomous robots for mining (potash + salt), the construction and construction machinery industry, outdoor surface cleaning and the operation of photovoltaic fields. Heerklotz is convinced that "AMR technology will grow very dynamically and will become a key technology for tomorrow's society alongside pure industrial robotics in the future, particularly due to the increasing shortage of personnel in practically all industrialized countries".

Innok Robotics' fundraising was supported by teams from EY Munich as corporate finance advisor, Luther Rechtsanwälte Frankfurt as legal advisor and RSW Steuerberater in Biberach.

MEDIENKONTAKT

ASSET Communications
Sebastian Köhnlechner
+49 163 7 83 43 97
koehnlechner@asset-communication.de

Innok Robotics, founded in 2012, is one of the technology and market leaders in highly innovative "autonomous mobile robots" (AMRs) that can also operate outdoors. Market researchers expect the global AMR market to grow by over 50 percent annually from 3 billion US dollars (2021) to 14 billion dollars by 2026.

Innok Robotics develops and produces fully integrated and reliable AMR systems that include Innok COCKPIT navigation and control software as well as robust vehicle hardware and state-of-the-art 2D/3D laser sensor technology. The AMRs from Innok Robotics are increasingly working with artificial intelligence, can be used flexibly by companies of all sizes and are characterized by very short amortization times. In addition to indoor use, they can also operate autonomously outdoors and in difficult terrain. They can be maintained remotely and counter the well-known shortage of personnel because they supplement or replace human labor with machine labor.

Based on Innok's proprietary HEROS platform, Innok Robotics can quickly and cost-effectively develop AMRs for a wide range of requirements. Applications where Innok's AMR systems are already in use include factories, logistics centers, mines and oil refineries. Customers include global corporations such as TotalEnergies, HILTI, Infineon, K+S, Daimler, Nokia, E.on as well as larger medium-sized companies such as the Landgard Group.