USD 4.3 million pre-seed funding round fuels Ascento’s growth

As the security industry is strongly affected by labour shortages, companies are struggling to fulfill contractual obligations or sign new business. In addressing this pressing issue, robotics startup Ascento, is today announcing a $4.3m funding round and the launch of its latest autonomous outdoor security patrolling robot: Ascento Guard.  

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. 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. 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.

“As a Service” business model

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: “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.”

The pre-seed funding round was led by Wingman Ventures 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.  

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.”

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.”

(Press release / SK)