RCS - Frontier IP Group - Portfolio news – Fieldwork Robotics

Frontier IPAnnouncement

10/08/2023 08:45

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RNS Number : 8583I  Frontier IP Group plc  10 August 2023

Reach - a non-regulatory announcement

AIM: FIPP

10 August 2023

 

Frontier IP Group Plc

("Frontier IP" or the "Group")

 

Portfolio news - Fieldwork Robotics raises £1.5 million from Elbow Beach
Capital and appoints David Fulton as CEO

 

 

 

Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising intellectual property, today
welcomes the announcement below from Elbow Beach Capital, which is investing
£1.5 million in the Group's portfolio company Fieldwork Robotics ("Fieldwork"
or the "Company"). The investment is part of an equity funding round by
Fieldwork of more than £2 million.

 

The fundraising values Fieldwork at £6.7 million post money. As part of the
funding round, Frontier IP has invested £172,000 through the conversion of
loans and trade debt. Following the conversion, the Group no longer has any
loans or trade debt with Fieldwork and now has a 22% equity interest in the
Company. A further amount of up to £600,000 is expected to be raised by
Fieldwork via a Seedrs' funding round opening today.

 

Fieldwork has also appointed David Fulton as Chief Executive Officer, with
effect from 17(th) July 2023. David has more than 30 years' business
experience, most recently as co-founder and director of LAB+BONE, a service to
protect dogs' identity by using DNA. Before starting LAB+BONE, he was Chief
Executive Office of WeSee, a company using advanced computer vision technology
mimicking the human brain's ability to understand and process visual
information. He previously held executive positions with Expedia, Adform and
Microsoft.

 

Rui Andres, former CEO of Fieldwork, will continue as CEO of fellow Frontier
IP portfolio company, Molendotech, but now on a full-time basis.

 

Fieldwork has developed the world's first raspberry-harvesting robots, which
are now picking fruit in Portugal at farms run by the Summer Berry Company.
Customers of the Summer Berry Company include leading supermarkets such as
Sainsbury's, Waitrose and M&S.

 

The Company will use the proceeds from the round to grow its team, outsource
robot manufacture and attract more farmers to its harvesting-as-a-service
offering. Fieldwork aims to increase the harvesting speed of its robots and
have more than 100 robots available to farmers by 2025.

 

Frontier IP Chief Executive Officer Neil Crabb said: "We are delighted with
Elbow Beach Capital's support for Fieldwork Robotics and the appointment of
David Fulton as the Company's CEO. I look forward to the successful completion
of the funding round through Seedrs and to Fieldwork's future success."

 

 

Elbow Beach Capital announcement begins:

 

 

 

 

 

EBC Leads Seed Round into Raspberry Picking Robot Developer

 

 

EBC Leads Seed Round into Raspberry Picking Robot Developer

 

Leaders in their field: Fieldwork Robotics creator of the world's first
raspberry picking robot secures funding to enhance its technology and expand
operational footprint

 

 

·    Elbow Beach Capital has committed £1.5m to an ongoing £2m+
fundraise

·    Additional funding provided by a Seedrs round

·    Over £60m worth of crops are due to be wasted by UK farms this year

·    Fieldwork's proprietary AI and robotics technology is designed to
tackle labour, wastage and efficiency issues in the UK and internationally

·    Fieldwork benefits from an existing commercial partnership signed
with the Summer Berry Company with raspberries picked by its robots already in
Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose

 

Link to Seedrs page: https://www.seedrs.com/fieldwork-robotics
(https://www.seedrs.com/fieldwork-robotics)

Cambridge, 10 August 2023 - Elbow Beach Capital
(https://elbowbeachcapital.com/) , the decarbonisation, sustainability and
social impact investor today announces its third AgriTech investment, backing
harvesting robot developers, Fieldwork Robotics Ltd. Elbow Beach contributed
£1.5 million and an ongoing Seedrs round which opened to new investors today
is expected to raise an additional £600k. The round closes in September.
Frontier IP, a family office and other existing investors have also followed
on in this round.

Farms in Europe, and worldwide, are suffering from a continuous and worsening
shortage of workers.  In the UK, this problem has been exacerbated by
Covid-19, Brexit, the war in Ukraine and high employment levels in competing
sectors, with the National Farmers' Union suggesting that as much as £60m of
food will be left to rot on farms this year due to labour shortages.

Initially focusing on soft fruits, such as raspberries, Fieldwork Robotics has
developed advanced, AI-supported harvesting robots to help solve the problem
of worker shortages, increase farm efficiency and reduce food wastage in the
UK and beyond. Raspberry producers in particular face several issues including
chronic labour shortages and dwindling net margins. Picking raspberries alone
accounts for over 50% of total production costs.

Spun out of the University of Plymouth and now based in Cambridge, Fieldwork
benefits from a highly experienced team with backgrounds in applied sciences,
electronics, engineering, software and manufacturing. This experience allowed
the Fieldwork team to develop the first autonomous raspberry harvesting robot,
in collaboration with Bosch. The robot, named Alpha, analyses the crop,
decides when to harvest the raspberries, and places them in punnets ready for
delivery to supermarkets.

Alpha gives growers the ability to extend operations to 24 hours a day,
increasing harvesting time threefold. With farmers struggling to recruit farm
workers, Alpha can provide assurance that farmers' capability to harvest will
not be impacted by seasonal or policy-led variations in available labour
supply. Fieldwork's technology therefore allows growers to significantly
increase their harvesting efficiency and reduce the food wastage caused by
human labour shortages.

Working in collaboration with the Summer Berry Company
(https://www.summerberry.co.uk/#our-story) , Fieldwork has deployed Alpha to
farms in Portugal, and the fruit it harvests is currently being sold in the
UK's top supermarkets including M&S, Sainsbury's and Waitrose.

Prior to this round, Fieldwork received over £700,000 in backing from
Innovate UK and support from EIT Food (https://www.eitfood.eu/) , giving the
company access to a network of entrepreneurs, agricultural leaders and
academics. Fieldwork will use the proceeds of this round to grow its team,
begin outsourcing the manufacture of its robots and onboard more farmers to
its harvesting-as-a-service offering. The company aims to have over 100 robots
available for harvesting-as-a-service by 2025 and treble the harvesting speed
of its robots.

The immediate focus of Fieldwork is to address the pressing issue of
unharvested soft fruit, particularly focusing on raspberries, which represent
a $2bn global market opportunity. Global demand for raspberries continues
unabated with an impressive c.22% annual export growth.

Fieldwork has recently recruited David Fulton as CEO who brings a wealth of
knowledge in AI, technology development and marketing.

Jon Pollock, CEO of Elbow Beach Capital: "The Fieldwork Robotics team combine
their significant technical expertise with a drive to create an instant and
lasting impact. Agriculture as it stands is not fit for purpose and we need
innovative technologies to alleviate the unsustainable levels of waste and
improve the economics for the farmer and end customers in the sector. We look
forward to working closely with Fieldwork as they tackle this issue head on."

David Fulton, CEO of Fieldwork Robotics: "Elbow Beach Capital are a great
strategic and cultural fit for us. As a genuine impact investor, it's clear
that EBC are not only looking for potential value, but also at the impact of
their investments and how they can make the world a better place. This round
will support our work with forward-looking farms looking to solve their labour
shortages, reduce crop wastage and mitigate food inflation."

This is Elbow Beach Capital's third investment in the AgriTech space, having
already invested in broccoli protein specialists, UPP (https://www.upp.farm/)
and asparagus robot specialists, Muddy Machines
(https://www.muddymachines.com/) .

 

 

Elbow Beach Capital statement ends.

 

 

 

 

 

ENQUIRIES

 

 Frontier IP Group Plc                                                  T: 020 7332 2338
 Neil Crabb, Chief Executive                                            neil@frontierip.co.uk

 Andrew Johnson, Communications & Investor Relations                    M: 07464 546 025

 Company website: www.frontierip.co.uk (http://www.frontierip.co.uk/)
 Elbow Beach Capital:                                                   elbowbeach@vigoconsulting.com (mailto:elbowbeach@vigoconsulting.com)

Vigo Consulting                                                       +44 (0)20 7390 0226
 Charlie Neish                                                          +44 (0)20 7390 0232
 Verity Snow

 

 

                                                                      info@fieldworkrobotics.com

 Fieldwork Robotics Ltd
 David Fulton, CEO        info@fieldworkrobotics.com

 Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser)

 Nick Athanas / George Payne

 

 

 Fieldwork Robotics Ltd
 David Fulton, CEO        info@fieldworkrobotics.com

 elbowbeach@vigoconsulting.com (mailto:elbowbeach@vigoconsulting.com)
 +44 (0)20 7390 0226
 +44 (0)20 7390 0232

 

 

info@fieldworkrobotics.com

 

 

Allenby Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser)

Nick Athanas / George Payne

 

 

About Elbow Beach Capital

Elbow Beach Capital is a private investment company focused on sustainable
energy, decarbonisation and social impact businesses. EBC supports exceptional
founders and their teams in scaling their businesses through capital
investments, coupled with ESG and go-to-market expertise. EBC is currently the
UK's most active specialist seed investor in climate technology, backing
innovative entrepreneurs who are building businesses that will have a positive
impact on our planet and society.

Learn more about Elbow Beach Capital: www.elbowbeachcapital.com
(http://www.elbowbeachcapital.com)

 

ABOUT FIELDWORK ROBOTICS

Fieldwork Robotics was founded in 2016 by Martin Stoelen. Focusing on the
harvesting of soft fruits using both vertical and horizontal robots, Fieldwork
aims to solve the interrelated problems of worker shortages, farm inefficiency
and food wastage.

Fieldwork's proprietary AI technology combined with its unique modular soft
robotic arms bring together cutting-edge hardware and software to offer highly
advanced harvesting robots.

Learn more about Fieldwork Robotics: www.fieldworkrobotics.com
(http://www.fieldworkrobotics.com)

ABout frontier IP

Frontier IP unites science and commerce by identifying strong intellectual
property and accelerating its development through a range of commercialisation
services. A critical part of the Group's work is involving relevant industry
partners at an early stage of development to ensure technology meets real
world demands and needs.

The Group looks to build and grow a portfolio of equity stakes and licence
income by taking an active involvement in spin-out companies, including
support for fund raising and collaboration with relevant industry partners at
an early stage of development.

Frontier IP is the commercialisation partner for the University of Plymouth.

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