Blue Ocean Robotics Raises $51 Million to Fund Mobile Robots
Blue Ocean Robotics, a provider of mobile service robots, has raised more than $51 million in funding from A.P. Møller Holding. The investment will help the company deploy its robots worldwide. Blue Ocean currently has three mobile robot brands in its portfolio, but the company is developing four new types of service robots.
The first of Blue Ocean's brands is UVD Robots, which makes mobile disinfection robots. In December 2020, UVD Robots won a contract from the European Commission to supply 200 robots to hospitals in the European Union.
UVD Robots offers two models of disinfection robots which, as clinically proven, destroy 99.99% of viruses and bacteria on surfaces and in the air of a hospital room in just 10 minutes of autonomous operation.
Other Blue Ocean brands include GoBe Robots, which offers a mobile telepresence robot, and PTR Robots, which is developing a mobile robot for patient treatment and rehabilitation.
“A.P. Møller Holding gives us even more financial capacity to consolidate and expand market share for all our robots. The expansion of UVD Robots must be accelerated, and we have done this with the PTR Robots and GoBe Robots brands, two new robots that are now also available on the global market. At the same time, by optimizing physical robots, we are improving quality, production costs and the ability to provide high-quality services for all our robots at customer sites”
The company also said it will launch a cloud platform in 2022 to simplify working with customers. Blue Ocean is A.P. Møller Holding's first investment in a robotics manufacturer.
“Blue Ocean Robotics has developed several robot solutions that can automate and optimize critical and routine tasks, including in healthcare systems. We look forward to following the company and supporting it on its interesting and prosperous path”
Blue Ocean was founded in 2013 and is based in Odense, Denmark. The company is part of the Danish robotics cluster, which currently consists of more than 300 companies working in robotics and automation. Blue Ocean received the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award 2020 for its disinfection solution.
Service robots are only part of the solution that can boost productivity in the labor market. At the same time, the working environment can be improved, and the quality of services provided can reach a higher level. That is why Blue Ocean Robotics has been actively expanding in the global market over the past several years, and why it is now accelerating its growth and product development thanks to investment from A.P. Møller Holding.
Blue Ocean Robotics' range of mobile robots helps staff optimize disinfection, telepresence, and the safe transport and rehabilitation of patients. The company has a broad customer base, including the commercial cleaning company ISS, hospitals, schools, airports, hotel chains, manufacturing plants and shopping centers.
Therefore, CEO Claus Risager is very pleased with the support in taking the business, which is already one of Denmark's most important companies, to a completely new level.
“In 2022 we are launching an online platform that simplifies interaction with customers in a cloud system, because selling service robots is not just about creating and delivering robots. Together with our sales and service partners, we also ensure that robots are integrated into customers' workflows and that the technology creates maximum value at customer sites”
Blue Ocean Robotics stands apart from other market players by developing all the technological "building blocks" for mobile service robots. This allows the company to bring new types of robots to market faster, cheaper and better than its competitors.
Blue Ocean Robotics' robot sales are growing rapidly, increasing 20 times between 2018 and 2021. Founded nine years ago, the company is now a heavyweight in the relatively young Danish robotics industry, with revenue of nearly $30.5 million and a staff of 225. The company's success is evidenced by the fact that 75% of customers worldwide who choose automatic disinfection to fight the spread of coronavirus and other infections choose UVD Robots, a Danish-developed technology brand from Blue Ocean Robotics.
From a technical standpoint, A.P. Møller Holding's investment was provided as a convertible loan that can be exchanged for an equity stake. Current owners of Blue Ocean Robotics include other strong investors such as the venture fund Nordic Eye and L'Easy owner Nils Torborg.
Although A.P. Møller Holding is investing in a robotics manufacturer for the first time, this can still be seen as a kind of return to the industry. In the 1990s, shipowner Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller realized that automation was necessary in the shipbuilding industry, so he invested significant funds in research and development of robotic technologies in Denmark.
Over the years, A.P. Møller and the Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond foundation have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to robotics research at the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Institute at the University of Southern Denmark.
“Without A.P. Møller, Denmark would not have a robotics cluster or robotics industry. Together with the local university in Odense, A.P. Møller has also made a huge contribution as a driving force through its generous donations to robotics research and development, and as a user of the solutions developed. Being part of robotics in Odense has been incredibly exciting and rewarding since the 1980s, when I developed welding robots for a steel shipyard in Odense”
