Bucharest, 1st of October 2024
Catalyst Romania Invests €2 Million in ADAPTA Robotics, Marking Its 8th Investment from Fund II
Catalyst Romania is announcing a €2 million investment in ADAPTA Robotics, a Romanian robotics development company that has consistently demonstrated its capacity for rapid innovation. Adapta Robotics provides state-of-the-art solutions across various industries, including automotive, consumer electronics, medical, manufacturing, R&D, electronics refurbishment, wearables, and gaming.
This investment marks the eight investment from Catalyst Romania Fund II, reinforcing the Fund’s mission to drive growth and foster innovation within Romania’s and Central & Eastern Europe’s (CEE) tech ecosystems and beyond.
“From the moment we met the founding team of ADAPTA Robotics, we were impressed by their deep knowledge and passion for the robotics field. Even more notable was how they transformed that passion into a thriving business with real-world impact. We are confident that this investment will accelerate their growth and broaden their reach into new industries and verticals. ADAPTA Robotics is at the forefront of AI-powered robotics, and we are excited to support their journey as they continue to push the boundaries of innovation in this rapidly evolving industry.” — Alin Stanciu, Partner at Catalyst Romania.
ADAPTA Robotics has positioned itself as a key player in the rapidly growing robotics sector, delivering groundbreaking solutions to some of the world’s most prominent companies, such as Zebra Technologies, Ypsomed and Nissan. With over 50 robots successfully deployed to more than 30 clients, the company has demonstrated its ability to stand out in a highly competitive market.
What distinguishes ADAPTA Robotics is its emphasis on adaptability. Its technology can be customized to meet specific client needs, offering a level of flexibility that gives it a unique advantage over competitors offering more standardized solutions. By integrating cutting-edge hardware, artificial intelligence, and computer vision technologies, ADAPTA delivers robots with unparalleled accuracy and precision, capable of operating 24/7.
With support from RINF.tech and after two years of research and development, ADAPTA Robotics launched its MVP, the MATT Robot, in 2017, with the first commercial sale in 2020. The MATT Robot was followed by ERIS (Effective Retail Intelligent Scanner), designed to resolve on-shelf availability and price tag issues quickly and accurately in retail environments.
“We look at this investment with excitement and confidence in the new chapter that is about to begin for Adapta Robotics. Having Catalyst’s vote of confidence is a validation of the hard work and breakthroughs we have achieved so far. With Catalyst’s excellent track record and extensive experience, we look forward to building on this momentum and scale our operations, while continuing to improve our globally sold products.” Mihai Crăciunescu, CEO Adapta Robotics.
In addition to strengthening its sales and marketing teams, the €2 million investment from Catalyst Romania will enable ADAPTA Robotics to forge strategic partnerships with distributors and further customize its flagship MATT Robot to serve various industry verticals. The MATT Robot is versatile and designed for both hardware and software testing, stress testing, and device functionality testing.
This round of investment also attracted the participation of Women Invest in Tech (WIT), a business angel community dedicated to fostering diversity, empowerment, and innovation within the tech sector.
About Adapta Robotics
Adapta Robotics is a company that researches, designs and manufactures products for industries where automation is challenging to implement, by leveraging cutting-edge hardware, computer vision and AI solutions. With their two key products, MATT and ERIS, Adapta seeks to provide high-performance automation tools that are accessible and easy to use by businesses and people, relieving human resources of repetitive tasks, and expanding their productivity and performance.
Adapta was founded in 2015 by a group of three dedicated engineers, Mihai Crăciunescu, Cristian Dobre and Diana Baicu, out of the desire to ease the introduction of complex robotics solutions to users who need a fast setup and simple interface. Starting as a corporate robotics department, it spun off into an independent startup in 2021.
About Catalyst Romania Fund II
Catalyst Romania is a fund manager that launched the first private equity and venture capital fund dedicated to Romania in 2012, financed through JEREMIE. The fund manager prioritizes investments in rapidly growing sectors, including Technology & Internet, Media & Communications, and Technology Services. The team provides growth capital to companies that are or have the potential to become regional leaders or global players. Catalyst Romania Fund II SCSp (“Catalyst Romania” or “Catalyst Romania Fund II”) is an alternative investment fund managed by Catalyst II GP S.à.r.l. Both companies are organized under Luxembourg law and act as alternative investment fund managers.
About InnovFin Equity and JEREMIE Holding Romania
Catalyst Romania Fund II is supported by JEREMIE Holding Fund Romania, an investment program between EIF and the Government of Romania, where EIF acts on behalf and for the ultimate benefit of the Romanian Government and invests the returns generated by the operations carried out within the JEREMIE Holding Fund Romania during the eligible period 2007-2013, and InnovFin Equity, with the financial support of the European Union under the Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) established under the Investment Plan for Europe. The objective of EFSI is to support financing and implementing productive investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to funding.
About EIF
The European Investment Fund is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support European microenterprises and SMEs by providing access to finance. EIF develops venture capital and growth instruments, guarantees, and microfinance instruments explicitly targeting this market segment. Through its role, EIF promotes EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment.