Many industries throughout the world have been impacted by labor shortages, including the security industry. In fact, security companies in numerous countries are grappling with a significant staff shortage of up to 52% for security guards. This has led to difficulties in meeting contractual obligations and securing new business. As a solution to this issue, robotics startup Ascento has recently announced a $4.3 million funding round and the release of their latest product, the Ascento Guard - an autonomous outdoor security patrolling robot..
The
pre-seed funding round was led by Wingman Venture and Playfair with
participation from marquee investors including Tim Kentley-Klay (Founder of
Zoox that exited to Amazon), robotics industry veteran Ryan Gariepy (CTO &
Co-Founder of Clearpath Robotics and OTTO Motors), Daniel Kottlarz (Founder of
MYBOTSHOP, largest robotics research reseller in Europe) and Tobias Redlin
(Founder of IGO3D, largest desktop 3D printer distributor in Europe), including
non-dilutive funding from the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse and the European Space Agency
incubator ESA BIC.
Ascento
develops advanced robotic systems that are popularly known for their wheel-leg
design. These autonomous robots are designed to navigate any outdoor terrains
with agility and stability of their legs. They are already being deployed on
large industrial sites and have covered over 3000 km for outdoor security since
early this year. Ascento customers include large outdoor warehouses, industrial
manufacturing and pharma campus, among others.
Today,
the startup has launched their latest autonomous outdoor security patrolling
robot called Ascento Guard. It is able to detect bad actors or unwanted people
on premises, verify perimeter integrity, check that doors and windows are
closed, record property lights, identify floods and fires, and control parking
lots. They can move at walking speed (4.5km/h) and come with autonomous
charging such that the system can be continuously in operation without human
intervention.
The
Ascento Guard can be installed and deployed within a few hours, allowing
companies to save from day 1 and adapt fast to their current security needs.
The Ascento Guard can be hired by the hour, just like a human guard, and it
includes deployment, 24/7 support, service and repairs. The Ascento App
analyses video and images with AI, it integrates with existing video management
systems, provides end-to-end encrypted two-way communication, and offers
powerful reports that security managers actually want to see.
Alessandro Morra, co-founder and CEO of Ascento commented: “The
new Ascento Guard offers hope and a breath of fresh air for the security
industry facing some pressing challenges. By supporting human security
personnel with the Ascento Guard, security companies can offer a lean solution
through which Ascento does the heavy lifting allowing humans to focus on the unique
nuances of the work”.
The
global security industry is facing mounting challenges. Labour shortages mean a
lack of qualified personnel available to do the work which involves long
shifts, during anti-social hours or in bad weather. To compound matters, there
is high staff turnover in the industry, as much as 47% annually. By providing a
robotics-as-a-service solution to security companies, Ascento aims to address
these challenges.
Alessandro
Morra added: “Ascento is targeting the high operating costs the
industry is enduring. The traditional approach is to use either people or fixed
installed cameras. We know about the labour challenges and the installation of
cameras has a huge outlay that can be complex. The Ascento Guard provides the
best of both worlds, with the resilience, reliability and repeatability of
technical solutions whilst being as flexible as human guards.”
Ascento
was co-founded by Alessandro Morra (CEO), Miguel de la Iglesia Valls (CTO),
Ciro Salzmann and Dominik Mannhart (Software & Hardware) who combined their
experience as security guards together with the robotics technology that they developed
at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) as students.
The
team has grown to >10 people, as new customers sign up every month, with a
growing fleet mileage over 70% month over month since the beginning of 2023.
The systems in the field have accumulated over 3000 km. Ascento is hiring
across Sales and Operations to scale their fleet
of Ascento Guards.
Pascal Mathis, Founding Partner at Wingman Ventures commented: “We
accompanied the founder team for over a year as sparring partners and the
dedication, execution speed and how the team is listening to its customers to
build the right solution is astonishing. We look forward to making the life of
security guards easier and the objects they protect safer.”
Chris Smith, Managing Partner at Playfair commented: “Many of the
world’s most pressing business challenges cannot be solved by software alone.
We see the next decade as providing a huge opportunity for companies building
in robotics to solve these challenges. Ascento’s combination of a world class
team, best in class technology and a large global market with significant
labour and pricing pressures made this a compelling investment opportunity for
us.”