When the American company Teradyne recently acquired Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) for €222 million it marked the latest huge investment among a number of investments in the robotic cluster in Odense. The first huge investment was when Teradyne acquired Universal Robots in 2015.
Although, the story of robotics in Odense started much earlier. Back in the 80’s Odense was an industrial city with Odense Steel Shipyard as the icon of it. The Odense Steel Shipyard was a first mover in Denmark, when it comes to using robots for welding, painting and processes. Moreover, the Maersk family – owners of the Odense Steel Shipyard – donated €10 million to University of Southern Denmark to focus on robotics. That was the foundation for the Maersk KcKinney Moeller Institute which is now the frontrunner within robotics in Denmark.
The robotic cluster with more than 120 companies and more than 3,200 employees wasn’t an overnight success. It has been built on the shoulders of the former traditional industrial city and afterwards turned into a modern industrial city, leading in the field of collaborative robots.
Since 2015 €670 million were invested in the robotic cluster. The Danish magazine Mandag Morgen has in a newly published article (in Danish and requires subscription) uncovered that a big part of the exit capital is being reinvested in new robotic companies by some of the key people in the robotic cluster (Esben Østergaard, Thomas Visti, Enrico Krog Iversen, Niels Jul Jacobsen, Torben Frigaard Rasmussen, Lasse Kieffer, Søren Juul Jørgensen) thus ensuring that the cluster is constantly developing.
As the cluster expands new companies will be in the market for venture capital. This week marks a new milestone for the cluster. as the company Odico is the first company in the robotic cluster to announce a listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Right now Odico is in the middle of a pre-IPO (seeking private investors before the Initial Public Offering) before the first trade day on Nasdaq First North Copenhagen on the 29th of June 2018. Odico invites to an investor meeting on the 19th of June 2018. Sign up by mail or phone: anette@odico.dk – +45 22 22 12 36. For more information visit: www.nyemission.dk/odico or contact Søren Pontoppidan, Kapital Partner: sp@kapitalpartner.dk – +45 29648107.Odico’s first trade day on Nasdaq First North Denmark is June 29th 2018. The pre-money valuation is approximately €11 million.
More investments are coming soon. At Odense Investor Summit – Robots Meet Capital – on the 12th of September 2018 more than 100 investors will meet more than 20 startup companies. Read more and sign up here.
The City of Odense is really buzzing!
Further information:
Investment Manager
Michael Hansen
MHANN@odense.dk
+45 2341 4007