A BGV Trident Capital co-owner’s company has invested $5 million in the robotics startup Deus Robotics
BGV Trident Capital, founded by Ilya Ponomarev and Hennadiy Butkevych, has invested $5 million in the robotics startup Deus Robotics, founded by Paul Pikulin in 2018. The investment was reported by Interfax.
The raised investment will be used to set up serial production of robots for warehouse logistics, as well as to expand the number of developers and to enter international markets. It is planned that by the end of 2022, serial production will begin with a volume of about 400 robots per month. These robots will be used to automate logistics processes. Up until now, Deus Robotics has been developed with personal investments from its founders. For example, Paul Pikulyn has already invested over $1 million of his own funds in the project. In 2021, Deus Robotics released and delivered 40 robots to customers.
“In any warehouse, there are a number of tasks that are solved by people: sorting, order picking, and transportation of goods. We are developing robotic solutions specifically for these tasks. At the moment, we have three robots: for sorting goods and parcels, for transporting shelves, and for transporting pallets. In the next year, three new robot models will appear that will solve other tasks, for example, they will be able to pick up goods from shelves and racks,” said Pikulin.
According to him, the robotics market is a promising investment direction. Already, Deus Robotics has orders for more than 400 robots to be delivered in 2022-2023 in its portfolio.
“One of our robots can work for approximately 18 hours a day. This exceeds the working day of a loader or warehouse manager, whose working day lasts eight hours. And add weekends, vacation, sick leave, and other administrative costs associated with hiring people (training, transportation costs, etc.),” explained Pikulin.
The development of robotics is supported by a partnership with Nova Post. Deus Robotics’ solutions are already being tested within the company’s logistics operations, including sorting and goods transportation processes.
According to the creator of Deus Robotics, the tangible effect of using robots can also be noticed in other areas, such as construction, in which the company also plans to develop in the future. However, the company’s main focus right now is on logistics. In a world of rapid development of e-commerce, retail, and postal services, logistics has the highest potential for robotization.
“Creating robots is one of the most promising areas of high-tech development. The replacement of manual labor with machine-driven processes has long been a goal of humanity, and I am glad to see Deus Robotics at the forefront of this transformation. As investors, we will help with everything we can and contribute to the global success of Deus Robotics,” said Managing Partner of BGV Trident Capital, Ilya Ponomarev.
