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Press contact: Gwendoline Legrand – [email protected] – Cell : +33 688 871 711 www.naio-technologies.com
Press release |Toulouse, December 14th, 2015
Naïo Technologies raises 3 million € for international expansion
French agribot start-up Naïo Technologies raises 3
million € in capital from the Emertec and CapAgro
investment funds, through a WiSeed crowdfunding
campaign and via its historical shareholders. The newly
obtained funds will allow the company to finance
international expansion and R&D activities in the
promising field of agricultural robots.
In 2011, Gaëtan Séverac and Aymeric Barthes, two
robotics engineers, founded the start-up in the French
city of Toulouse. They set out to create agricultural
robots with a triple goal: reduce farmer workload, limit
the impact on the environment and increase farmer revenue. The first robots were successfully marketed in 2015
and Naïo Technologies plans to double its sales in 2016.
Autonomous electrical robots at the service of organic farming
How to avoid using chemicals in agriculture while improving
working conditions for farmers? French start-up Naïo Technologies
believes electrical robots are the answer. The Naïo team constantly
strives to provide robotic solutions to assist produce farmers in
their daily tasks. Currently, some 30 OZ weeding robots have found
their way to the fields, mainly of smaller farms (1 – 10 ha), to allow
owners to save time on weeding. This market comprises 6,000
farms for France alone.
The innovation of OZ lies in its capacity to move autonomously
between rows using laser and camera guidance. OZ recognizes
different types of culture and moves accordingly when eliminating
weeds. Naïo Technologies has received the 2015 Mechatronics Award for the most promising start-up, as well as the
Special Jury Award at the French Collaborative Robotics Contest 2015 and, recently, the CleanTech Republic Award in
the context of the COP21 climate change conference. They also work with Bonduelle, the world’s leading manufacturer of
ready-to-use vegetables, on various trials for this innovative weeding solution.
Naïo’s second robot goes by the name of ANATIS, a hoeing robot for open field vegetable production (> 10ha). The model
was developed in collaboration with Carré SAS, a leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery in France. ANATIS was
first introduced at the Tech & Bio Trade show in Valence last September. The hoeing robot allows Naïo to target a market
of 30,000 vegetable farmers working for the French agricultural food industry.
Naïo currently focuses on its latest innovation: a vineyard robot to mechanically weed rows of vines. The prototype is
being developed in partnership with the French Institute for Vines and Vineyards (IFV), the LAAS-CNRS Laboratory for
Analysis and Architecture of Systems and the Southern French Vinovalie cooperative winery group. The vineyard robot will
take the shape of a straddle tractor and will be able to weed 5 ha per day. This new robot will be marketed in the course of
2016.
Press contact: Gwendoline Legrand – [email protected] – Cell : +33 688 871 711 www.naio-technologies.com
Testimonials from Naïo Technologies investors and founders
This third fundraiser announces a major turning point for Naïo Technologies; the Emertec and CapAgro investment funds
as well as Syselec, a circuit board supplier, will accompany the start-up’s growth. They’re also backed by public investment
Bank BPI France, private banks BNP Paribas and Crédit Coopératif via loans and refundable cash advances, and by
crowdfunding platform WiSeed.
Aymeric Barthès, Naïo Technologies CEO and co-founder, looks back: “ In 2013, we raised 82 k€ in love money from 40
different shareholders. In 2014, a 2nd round brought us 730 k€ through crowdfunding platforms WiSeed and Smart Angels.
These funds enabled us to hire our first employees and to industrialize the first 30 robots. The current capital raise will allow us
to strengthen our sales force and recruit engineers so that we can pursue industrialization, continue our work on increasing
the robots’ autonomy and focus on national and international expansion."
“Between now and 2018, we aim to develop and market products for industrialized cultures, more particularly new robots for
open field cultures of vegetables and vines”, adds Gaëtan Séverac, Naïo Technologies COO and co-founder. “However, we
can’t lose sight of our main objective, which is to offer new tools and technologies to farmers in order to relieve the burden of
daily tasks while respecting the environment. In the end, what we want is that as many people as possible have access to
abundant, healthy food that respects the environment! The new funds will also enable us to pursue our CSR policy, which we
started in 2013 with the help of the Palanca agency: life cycle analysis, supplier selection and CSR product optimization.”
“Naïo technologies has two unique and complementary assets that are usually hard to bring together in the same team: the
know-how of cutting-edge robotics, such as guidance, vision, mathematical data analysis, combined with the profound
understanding of the agricultural world and its needs, a knowledge they acquired in the field. We believe that this unique
combination, the talent of both founders and the latest funding will provide Naïo with all the tools required to become a
European market leader in the expanding field of agricultural robots,” states Emertec board member Eric Marty.
Jean-Baptiste Cuisinier, President of the CapAgro board, explains his participation: “Our investment in Naïo Technologies is
fully consistent with our long-time strategy to promote a more efficient type of agriculture that requires less farm inputs. The
goal is to improve food quality, respect the environment and enable better wages for farmers. The quality of the team
Aymeric Barthès and Gaëtan Séverac put together, their understanding of the expectations of the agricultural world, their
imaginative use of technology and the newly released funds should help the company develop quickly”.
Crowdfunding platform WiSeed appealed to its private investor database to raise funds for Naïo: “The success of this
campaign proves that crowdfunding is here to stay when it comes to financing start-ups and funding their successive capital
raises to meet their needs. Naïo belongs to the group of companies that private investors favour on the WiSeed platform: a
product that offers a major societal development, a trustworthy team and regular updates on the business’s progress (both
in terms of quality and quantity). A winning combination,” highlights WiSeed co-founder Thierry Merquiol.
International expansion
In order to jumpstart its international development, Naïo Technologies aims to set up a global network of distributors
and will attend the following trade shows and exhibitions in 2016:
SIVAL – The Future of Agricultural Production – January 12 to 14 – Angers - France
Global Forum for Innovation in Agriculture – February 16 and 17- Abu Dhabi – United Arab Emirates
International Fair of Agricultural Machinery – February 16 to 20 – Saragossa - Spain
International Agriculture Trade Show – February 26 to March 6 – Paris – France
About Naïo Technologies In 2011, robotics engineer and embedded systems PhD, Gaëtan Séverac joined forces with Aymeric Barthès, a robotics engineer with an
agricultural background to create Naïo Technologies. The company develops and markets autonomous robots to relieve the work burden for
farmers while preserving the environment. Naïo Technologies was initially located at the Midi-Pyrenees business incubator. After 2
successive rounds of crowdfunding, the team counts 11 employees. They have the full support of their shareholders, who share their
convictions and understand the challenges the company has to meet. This 3rd
round of fundraising will allow Naïo Technologies to reach a
turnover of 1 million € and to hire 7 additional employees in 2016.
For more information: www.naio-technologies.com
Press contact: Gwendoline Legrand – [email protected] – Cell : +33 688 871 711 www.naio-technologies.com
About CAPAGRO
CapAgro Innovation is a venture capital fund that specializes in agriculture, food, nutrition, chemistry and renewable energies based on
carbon. The main investors include industrial groups, such as Avril, Tereos, Bel , Terrena and financial institutions BPI France, Crédit Agricole,
Groupama and AG2R-La Mondiale.
Contact : [email protected] - www.capagro.fr
Plus d’infos :
About EMERTEC EMERTEC Gestion was founded in 1999 and is an independent venture capital company that handles 150 million € in funds raised from large
institutional and industrial investors. FPCI EMERTEC 5, the branch that invested in Naïo Technologies, provides starting capital to companies
that propose innovative technologies to reduce human impact on the environment.
The EMERTEC 5 fund was released with the support of French start-up fund Fonds National d’Amorçage (FNA). This fund is managed by public
investment bank BPI France under the Investments for the Future Program (Programme d’Investissement d’Avenir) and the European
Investment Fund (FEI) in the framework of the European Union’s Competitiveness and Innovation Program (CIP).
Contact : Eric Marty – +33.180.181.121 - [email protected] – www.emertec.fr
Contact : Olivier Bordelanne – 01.80.18.11.23 - [email protected]
Plus d’infos :
About WISEED
WiSEED is the first historical platform of equity crowdfunding. It was launched in 2008, currently ranks in the European top 3 and it is the leading crowdfunding platform in France. WiSEED initiated the evolution in crowdfunding regulations and worked in close collaboration with governmental institutions to help implement the regulations that are now in effect. WiSEED develops new investment models based on the « power of the crowd », i.e. crowdfunding. Certain investments used to be the privilege of a limited few but the Internet provides the means to open up these projects to a wider range of active investors. Through its crowdfunding platform, WiSEED enables private individuals to actively finance real-world economy. WiSEED counts over 57,000 enrolled investors, is registered with the French ORIAS agency and controlled by the AMF Financial Market Authority. The platform has already provided 36 M€ of funds to 91 high potential projects, each ranging between 100,000 and 1m€. The funded projects cover the fields of health, ecological transition, digital technology, industry and real estate.
www.wiseed.com
Plus d’infos :
