Q-Bot: £3.5 million investment to drive expansion

NetScientific PLC

13 September 2023

 

Reach: For release at 07.00, 13 September 2023

NetScientific plc

("NetScientific" or the "Company")

Q-Bot secures £3.5 million of investment to drive UK, Europe, and USA expansion

NetScientific Plc (AIM: NSCI), the deep tech and life sciences VC investment group, announces that portfolio company Q-Bot has successfully closed a £3.5 million investment program ("Fundraising").

The Fundraising was led by the Company's wholly owned venture capital and corporate finance firm, EMV Capital, syndicated from a cohort of private investors and family offices. The new funding will support Q-Bot's growth in its principal UK market and expansion into Europe and the USA.

Following completion of the Fundraising, the total equity holding of NetScientific in Q-Bot is diluted to 15.3% (on a fully diluted basis), which equates to a post-investment fair value of £4.1 million, an increase of 9.2% from the £3.8 million reported as at 31 December 2022. In addition, following the introduction of investors to Q-Bot by EMV Capital, the NetScientific capital under advisory with Q-Bot is 30.7% of the fully diluted share capital. 

Alongside the fundraising, Q-Bot has also announced the appointment of John Kennedy as its new CEO following his joining Q-Bot in late 2022. John has extensive experience as CFO and CEO in growth businesses ranging from start-ups to publicly listed companies in technology and financial services.

Using AI and robotics, Q-Bot's insulation is deployed beneath suspended timber floors or to the underside of suspended concrete floors. A remotely operated robotic device applies a continuous layer of spray-foam insulation to the underside of the floor, resulting in a reduction in heat loss through the floor and a barrier to cold air draughts.

Q-Bot's advanced insulation is installed in over 200 homes every month, with revenues increasing by 60% over the past 12 months. In the UK, the Directors understand that Q-Bot's high performance retrofit insulation has a target market of 8 to 12 million homes that have suspended floors and which are hard to treat using traditional forms of insulation. 

Lord Callanan, the UK Energy Minister with responsibility for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, recently visited Q-Bot's new head office and retrofit research centre in London. During his visit, Lord Callanan praised Q-Bot's cutting-edge work and the contribution that Q-Bot was making to improve the energy efficiency of homes across the UK and in reducing carbon emissions, a vital component in the journey towards Net Zero.

John Kennedy, CEO 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."

Dr Ilian Iliev, CEO of NetScientific and Investment Director of Q-Bot, commented:

"We are pleased to see Q-Bot close out this important fundraising. The company continues to make strong progress in scaling sales with its innovative use of robotics and artificial intelligence in the Construction Technology industry, and in particular in the retrofit home insulation market. We look forward to seeing its continued success as it scales beyond the UK market, with a focus on market entry in the US and EU."

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NetScientific

Ilian Iliev, CEO                                                                                     Via Belvedere Communications

WH Ireland (NOMAD, Financial Adviser and Broker)

Chris Fielding / Darshan Patel                                                         [phone]

Belvedere Communications

John West / Llew Angus                                                                   [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

About NetScientific

NetScientific plc (AIM: NSCI) is a deep tech and life sciences VC investment group with an international portfolio of innovative companies.

NetScientific identifies, invests in, and builds high growth companies in the UK and internationally. The company adds value through the proactive management of its portfolio, progressing to key value inflection points, and delivering investment returns through partial or full liquidity events.

NetScientific differentiates itself by employing a capital-light investment approach, making judicial use of its balance sheet and syndicating investments through its wholly owned VC subsidiary, EMV Capital. The group secures a mixture of direct equity stakes and carried interest stakes in its portfolio of companies, creating a lean structure that can support a large portfolio.

NetScientific is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, and is admitted to trading on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange.

www.netscientific.net

About Q-Bot

Q-Bot, founded in 2012 by Tom Lipinski and Professor Peter Childs FREng, is a provider to the UK Government's Green Homes Local Authority Delivery Scheme, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, Great British Insulation Scheme and Home Upgrade Grant. 

Q-Bot's floor insulation is installed in over 200 homes every month and to date the company has installed over 4,000 properties across the UK and Europe. The company works with over 50 registered social housing providers, energy companies such as E.ON and British Gas, as well as a network of accredited installers and property agents.

An average-sized UK household, insulated by Q-Bot, could typically save c.£850 per year in an electrically-heated home, and c.£270 a year in a gas-heated home. Studies show that the Q-Bot system reduces heat loss through the floor by 77% and cold draughts by 1/3 for the whole house. With retrofitting existing buildings seen as essential for the UK to reach Net Zero, a household using Q-Bot's solution can cut its annual CO₂ emissions by an average 700 kg.

Q-Bot's work has received grant support from the UK Government and Innovate UK, and it has won numerous awards, including the CIBSE Building Performance Award and the Queen's Award for Enterprise (Innovation). 

www.q-bot.co

 

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