The Robot Venture Factory, Blue Ocean Robotics, has achieved growth on all fronts after a year of great efforts and a total investment of DKK 40 million in making more new robots ready for the global market. This applies to the subsidiaries Beam Robots, now called GoBe Robots, and also UVD Robots and PTR Robots. Blue Ocean Robotics Holding achieved a profit of DKK 5.5 million in 2019 and has DKK 130 million in equity. The results in 2019 validate the strategy change that the Robot Venture Factory completed in 2018.
When all bills and taxes were paid, there were still DKK 5.5 million left in Blue Ocean Robotics Holding, which has just presented its 2019 financial statements to its owners. The Holding company has DKK 130 million in equity, and cash equivalents of DKK 56 million for further investments in development and growth.
Despite considerable turbulence on the global market in recent months, Blue Ocean Robotics does not expect a decline in its total sales for 2020, on the contrary there are prospects for positive operational profits in UVD Robots in 2020 and in GoBe Robots in 2021.
“We are pleased with the results and developments in Blue Ocean Robotics. In 2019 we intensified our investments in commercialization and product development in our subsidiaries. We expect 2020 to be the big breakthrough year for UVD Robots and our two other subsidiaries. This means that we expect to continue to employ more people, especially with a focus on sales and market development as well as production staff in order to keep up with the order book. Just the first three months of this year have resulted in a huge demand for our UVD Robots in particular, which are currently being used in the fight against the coronavirus. The robot can kill the virus with UV-C light,” says Claus Risager, CEO at Blue Ocean Robotics.
Adjusted growth expectations
The autonomous UVD robots from Denmark are unique in their ability to protect hospital staff because they can enter and disinfect a room autonomously before cleaning staff, porters, patients, nurses and doctors move in there. In fact, the demand from all over the world for the disinfection robots from Odense has grown so dramatically here in Q1 that UVD Robots has had to significantly increase growth expectations for its sales of these robots this year. Among other things, a distributor in China ordered a three-digit number of the effective Danish robots, after comparing the product with Chinese and American solutions. The robots can also be found in over 50 countries including in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Spain and others.
Blue Ocean Robotics develops, produces and sells professional service robots primarily in healthcare, hospitality, construction and agriculture. The company has a range of brands in the portfolio including UVD Robots, a mobile robot for disinfection; GoBe Robots (formerly known as Beam Robots), a mobile telepresence robot for communication, social inclusion and CO2 reductions; PTR Robots, a mobile robot for safe patient handling and rehabilitation; and more.
The latest data from the International Federation of Robotics showed an annual growth of 61% in the number of service robots sold generally, corresponding to a total of 271,000 robots sold on the global market.
Many new Danish jobs
With its global growth, the Robot Venture Factory from Odense is also generating local growth in Odense Denmark, where the head office significantly increased the number of staff during 2019. That is also why Blue Ocean Robotics is moving to a new headquarters in the summer of 2020, where with 5 times more square meters, there is significantly more room to scale the production of robots. At the end of 2019, Blue Ocean Robotics had approximately 127 people representing 28 nationalities, and as of today employs 145 people, where roughly 30% are women. The Group currently has 20 open positions for among other things robot assembly tasks in Odense.
Successful strategy change
In 2018, Blue Ocean Robotics made a considerable change in its strategy. Previously, the company engaged with large global industrial partners to develop new robots, which then rewarded the company with royalties on their subsequent production and sales of robots. With the new strategy from 2018, Blue Ocean Robotics is financing the development of new robots themselves and take up a majority ownership position in the venture companies that are created. The goal is to achieve considerable growth in these venture companies and eventually exit.
Blue Ocean Robotics develops the professional service robots from problem, idea and design to development, commercialization, and all the way to exit. Each robot is moved into its own subsidiary- venture company which is responsible for scaling sales globally. The subsidiary operates as a venture company, as the goal is to exit at an appropriate time. This means that Blue Ocean Robotics the world’s first Robot Venture Factory.
In 2019, Blue Ocean Robotics had a strategic focus on strengthening the overall organization so that it optimized the future commercial growth and the subsequent demands of customer service, support and production as well as handling a growing portfolio of robots in development.
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Contact:
Merima Cikotic, PR & Marketing Manager
T: +45 7199 5606 | E: mc@blue-ocean-robotics.com
About Blue Ocean Robotics
Blue Ocean Robotics develops, produces and sells professional service robots primarily in healthcare, hospitality, construction and agriculture. The portfolio of robots includes brands like; UVD Robots, a mobile robot for disinfection; GoBe Robots, a mobile telepresence robot for communication, social inclusion and CO2 reductions; PTR Robots, a mobile robot for safe patient handling and rehabilitation; and a handful of other service robots. Blue Ocean Robotics develops the robots from problem, idea and design to development, commercialization, and all the way to exit. Each robot is moved into its own subsidiary- venture company, making Blue Ocean Robotics the world’s first Robot Venture Factory. Among other things, Blue Ocean Robotics has won one of the robot industry’s most prestigious international awards, the IERA Award 2019, and in March 2020 the company won the European robot industry’s award, “euRobotics Tech Transfer Award 2020”.
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