New investment to accelerate development of Lithuanian robotics company

Rubedo Sistemos, a Lithuanian Robotics developer, has received half a million Euros in investment from venture capital company Practica Capital. The new investment will enable the company, which specialises in mobile robotics and unmanned air mission control solutions, to accelerate its product development and roll out.

Amongst other products, Rubedo Sistemos develops solutions for controlling mobile unmanned vehicles, harnessing the power of 3D machine vision and artificial intelligence to do this. The new investment, which comes jointly from two of Practica’s funds, Practica Seed Capital and Practica Venture Capital, will be used for product development and sales.

Practica Capital completed the investment by acquiring all of a new convertible bond issue by Rubedo Sistemos, meaning Practica now owns a minority share in the company.

Director and shareholder of Rubedo Sistemos, Dainius Karkauskas, is confident that this new funding will help push the company on to the next level. “We started developing our unmanned robotised mission management solution back in 2013,” he explains. “We have invested plenty of our own funds, and received support from EU structural funds, and have now achieved a fairly high level of technological maturity. During this time, interest in the potential of mobile robotics in the industrial and service sectors has increased tenfold. To avoid losing our competitive advantage, we decided to seek additional investment. This will help us introduce ourselves to our potential clients in a more rapid and aggressive manner, and reduce the time of order execution,” concludes Mr Karkauskas.

Mr Karkauskas and the company’s other shareholders have a wide range of professional experience, both technical and administrative. This ranges from work in ICT through to medicine and logistics, in both international companies, and in their own business.

Silvestras Tamutis, a partner at Practica Capital, explains that aside from providing funding, Practica Capital will also contribute to the development of the strategic direction and objectives of the company, as well as its management.

“We are planning to make use of our wide network of partners, attracting talents and advisors to the company,” says Mr Tamutis. “We also aim to attract additional investment at later funding phases, with the aim of growing the business alongside the founders and other investors so together we reach the goals we have set. Our team has experience in equipment production, equipment development, business growth and sales to strategic investors. We will endeavour to use all of this experience in this case. In addition, we plan to contribute to the company’s growing sales in the B2B segment, where we are also experienced,” Mr Tamutis adds.

Rubedo Sistemos, which is based in Kaunas Science and Technology Park, specialises in mobile robotics. This includes autonomous robot navigation, machine vision, unmanned missions, and artificial intelligence. The company has also developed medicinal devices, and supplies the German manufacturer Elekta with an advanced software solution which is used in hospitals worldwide. This solution is compliant with the most stringent regulatory requirements globally, including those of the US Food and Drug Administration.

The autonomous mission control solution the company is developing is designed for mobile unmanned devices. In terms of robotics applications, these devices are one of the fastest growing areas, with usage ranging from logistics and security through to personal assistance.

Practica Capital is a venture capital company comprised of Practica Seed Capital, a seed stage venture capital fund worth €8 million, and Practica Venture Capital, worth €16 million. The company was established in 2011 by investment professionals and businesspeople who sold their businesses to establish the fund. The two funds were set up through the JEREMIE initiative, which is administered by the European Investment Fund, and the Ministries of Economy and Finance. This initiative is funded by EU Structural Funds as part of the 2007-2013 Lithuania Action Programme for Economic Growth.

Through these two funds, Practica invests both in seed stage young businesses, and in the development of small and medium-size companies already in operation. It gives priority in its funding to innovative businesses as well as those who show strong growth potential. Practica Capital also manages the business accelerator Startup.lt. Practica Capital has so far invested over €17 million in 40 enterprises.

Source: Verslo žinios