Q-Bot, a company developing intelligent tools using robotics and AI that can inspect, monitor and maintain the health of our buildings and infrastructure, has secured a new tranche of investment, totaling more than €4 million. The new funding will support Q-Bot’s growth in its main market of the UK, in continental Europe and in the USA.
The funding comes from a cohort of private investors and family offices led by EMV, the VC investor specialising in early-stage high-growth companies, Wealth Club, the UK’s largest investment service for high net worth and experienced investors, and for the first time by Adjuvo, a London-based investment syndicate.
In the UK alone, Q-Bot’s high-performance retrofit insulation can help insulate the 8-12 million homes that have suspended floors and which are hard to treat using traditional forms of insulation. With the company’s advanced insulation installed in over 200 homes every month and following a 60% increase in revenue over the past 12 months,
Professor Peter Childs FREng, Chair and co-founder of Q-Bot, said: “This investment is a strong endorsement of our work and recognition of the market opportunity that exists in the UK and overseas. Our customers, from private individuals to energy suppliers and providers of social housing, are assured by the comprehensive and professional approach that we take towards insulating homes whilst leveraging use of state-of-the-art robotics and AI.”
Today’s announcement of the new funding follows the recent visit to Q-Bot’s new head office and retrofit research centre in London by Lord Callanan, the UK Energy Minister with responsibility for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance. During his visit (August 1st), Lord Callanan praised Q-Bot’s cutting-edge work and the contribution that Q-Bot was making to improving the energy efficiency of homes across the UK and in reducing carbon emissions, a vital component in the journey towards Net Zero.
The company was founded in 2012. Using Q-Bot’s technology to insulate floors is quick, hassle-free and cheaper than other forms of insulation; it is verified by the Energy Saving Trust and the Residential Property Surveyors Association. Independent tests undertaken by Leeds Beckett University point to a 24% heat loss reduction in homes that have Q-Bot insulation, and in a separate study it has been shown that Q-Bot insulation reduces running costs for properties with heat pumps – by as much as 30%.
Whilst Q-Bot will reduce people’s energy bills, Q-Bot can as a result of a single measure upgrade people’s homes. Out of 12.6m homes in the UK that are rated Energy Performance Certificate D or below, 30% will only need Q-Bot’s insulation to reach EPC C (a key objective of UK Government policy), at less than a quarter of the cost of alternative methods and without disruption, making the transition to the low carbon economy far easier and pain-free.
John Kennedy, Chief Executive of Q-Bot, added: “With this latest tranche of funding, the welcome endorsement that we have from our investors and the UK Government, the energy efficiency commitments in the UK and overseas, and the public sector funding available to do this, Q-Bot has a strong platform to become a major, mainstream player within the retrofit sector and insulation market.”