August the 5th, 2021 - The Croatian Gideon Brothers company specialises in robotics and has gained more and more attention of late. The company's latest foreign investor is no less than the well known Deutsche Bahn Group.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes, the Croatian Gideon Brothers company, which deals with robotics and software solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI), recently announced an investment from Deutsche Bahn Digital Ventures (DBDV), a venture capital subsidiary of the Deutsche Bahn Group, as part of a 32 million US dollars Series A funding round.

“Gideon Brothers is developing products that change the rules of the game, and they've proven they have significant growth and market interest. We believe that the future of mobile robotics will be determined by autonomy based on AI and 3D robotic vision, and we're very pleased to welcome the Croatian Gideon Brothers company as one of the companies in our portfolio,'' said Boris Kühn, CEO of DB Digital Ventures.

The Series A Edition

Series A was led by Koch Disruptive Technologies with the participation of DB Schenker, Prologis Ventures and Rite-Hit. This round of financing was joined by some of the existing shareholders of Gideon Brothers who were among the first investors: TransferWise (now Wise) co-founder Taavet Hinrikus, Pentland Ventures, Peaksjah, HCVC (HardwareClub), Ivan Topcic, Nenad Bakic and Luca Ascani.

According to the Croatian Gideon Brothers company, the recapitalisation of the A-Series will accelerate the development and commercialisation of the company's autonomous mobile robots (AMR) that automate horizontal and vertical material handling.

They also plan to expand to Germany in the City of Munich and to the US in Boston where they will open offices and expand the operations of the Production, Sales, Marketing and Customer Success departments in key markets of the European Union and the USA.

Gideon Brothers specialises in the flexible automation of horizontal and vertical material handling operations in unstructured, human-operated warehousing, manufacturing and retail environments.

With their advanced mobile robots and comprehensive software solutions for autonomous indoor and outdoor operations, they work to help companies solve the most complex supply chain challenges of today: growing customer expectations, increased product variability and growth in logistics volumes, increasingly diverse distribution channels, and labour shortages in particular.

The increase of efficiency

As they point out, the autonomous mobile robots (AMR) made by the Croatian Gideon Brothers company increase efficiency and productivity by taking on low value-added operations, such as transporting, retrieving or the disposing of products, so that employees can engage in more complex tasks.

They say that with advanced Gideon Brothers technology, real collaboration between humans and robots is finally becoming possible and opening up more and more new opportunities for growth.

“The growing demand for smart automation solutions confirms the belief that autonomous robots are an indispensable tool for building sustainable growth. We're extremely pleased to have the opportunity to build partnerships with innovation leaders who share our vision - creating new synergies that bring real collaboration between humans and autonomous robotic vehicles powered by our next-generation technology,'' said Matija Kopic, the CEO of Gideon Brothers.

To briefly recall, this successful Croatian company recently entered into a partnership with Vector Conveyors from Spain, which was their first distributor for the Spanish market.

They explained that the partnership is part of their sales strategy that includes direct sales channels to key customers and indirect sales channels, by expanding the network of distributors through which they will offer their products, services, technical support and system integration.

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March the 24th, 2021 - The Croatian Gideon Brothers and the Alantic Group (Atlantic Grupa) have come together to launch a large product testing and development project.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian Gideon Brothers and the Atlantic Group are well known, highly successful companies and the pair coming together is likely to yield impressive results. The two companies have launched a project to develop an intelligent modular platform for process management in logistics, including a special solution for integrating autonomous mobile robots into a warehouse management system (WMS).

The central part of this research and development project are the advanced robots of the Croatian company Gideon Brothers, which will be directly connected to the WMS system of the Atlantic Group in its logistics and distribution centre in Velika Gorica near Zagreb. The move will serve as a testing ground for new product development and further testing.

As part of the large project, the Croatian Gideon Brothers will work on the development of the so-called "swarm" way of using robots, in which robots reach users in certain storage areas by following orders generated directly from the WMS system. Users will be able to read, on an integrated screen that the robots are equipped with, which products from a particular zone must be placed on the robot in order to complete a particular order.

One of the key objectives of the project is to increase the efficiency and flow of logistics operations to mitigate the risk of labour shortages, especially in periods of high demand.

"Humans are the main creators of value when it comes to logistics operations and that will certainly not change at any point in the foreseeable future. The close collaboration of humans and their robotic helpers is a way in which we can strengthen supply chains in the post-COVID-19 era and help the economy alleviate the pressure of labuor shortages and provide resources for growth. Our robots are here to help,'' said Matija Kopic, CEO and co-founder of Gideon Brothers.

"We're witnessing a robot revolution across various industries, accompanied by changes in attitudes. They're no longer a threat to the business or existence of (human) workers, but experience has shown that they can be a useful tool, working together with people to make the role of the human employees easier, more fulfilling and more productive. With this new solution and the complete integration of robots into our logistics operations, we want not only to alleviate any labour shortages, but also to meet increasingly complex market and consumer demands while maintaining business stability and profitability,'' added Darija Pizent, the Atlantic Group's supply chain management director.

Given the great potential of the new solution, the two successful Croatian companies applied for co-financing from the European Structural and Investment Fund - Increasing the development of new products and services arising from research and development activities - Phase II, together with their academic partner, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Zagreb.

The Croatian Gideon Brothers company is one of the pioneers in the field of autonomous navigation for mobile robots. Their impressive technology is based on advanced, human-like 3D visual perception, which allows robots to recognise various objects and understand what surrounds them, making it easier to adapt to their environment and spot obstacles when working safely in close contact with human workers.

Robots and vehicles powered by Gideon Brothers' technology currently work in warehouses and plants of some of the largest Croatian, European and global companies in the manufacturing, logistics and retail sectors.

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There is no doubt that Croatian companies are as innovative as they are determined. Despite operating in a country which likes to throw spanners in the works of each entrepreneurial step, putting off would-be investors from at home and abroad along the way, many companies manage to succeed, the amazing Gideon Brothers is one of them.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 10th of April, 2020, the Croatian company Gideon Brothers, which makes logistics autonomous robots, also wants to manufacture disinfection robots for hospitals in the ongoing coronavirus battle. Gideon Brothers' Matija Kopic, who is the co-founder and CEO of the company, posted a call to the state on Facebook to use his robots in hospitals, schools, shops, hotels and other facilities.

"When, if not now? Something that was unimaginable yesterday is happening to us today, and rapidly. What will the future look like? We don't know that today. But we at Gideon Brothers do know one thing: how to develop the most advanced mobile robots. That's why it's time to send our metal pets out onto the front lines of defense against coronavirus,'' Kopic said.

He has thus posted three robot concepts on Facebook. The first one has UV lamps for indoor disinfection. The second can carry a variety of goods, and the third robot can disinfect.

"In the coming months, Croatian hospitals, schools, shopping centres, supermarkets, hotels, warehouses, factories and other public and private environments can be helped by autonomous mobile robots to: disinfect indoor spaces, transport goods and supplies and detect fever in humans," explained the Gideon Brothers CEO.

He added that they were working on more useful concepts and said that "if we put our knowledge, experience and technology together for the benefit of the Croatian state and its inhabitants, we have a chance of survival in the uncertain future.

"As for the economy? We will continue to build someday, on some healthier grounds. Human lives? They're priceless,'' Kopic concluded.

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