Earlier this year Perceptual Robotics announced a substantial pre-Series A investment to expand their business into North America and Latin America and double the size of their team.
The international business already has offices in Athens and teams across Europe, in Argentina as well as operations in Southeast Asia – but it all started right here in Bristol. We caught up with them to hear their story.
The international business already has offices in Athens and teams across Europe, in Argentina as well as operations in Southeast Asia – but it all started right here in Bristol. We caught up with them to hear their story.
Perceptual Robotics was co-founded by Kostas Karachalios, Dimitris Nikolaidis and Kevin Driscoll-Lind in 2016 when they were all studying for a master’s in engineering at the University of Bristol. The concept started as a research project at university, which developed into the current business.
The co-founders are passionate about innovation and sustainability, so focused their research project on creating an autonomous inspection platform for wind turbines.
Following their master’s the team incubated their idea at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, and this spun out into a startup based at Future Space. Here they have been developing their product with the support of UWE Bristol and the University Enterprise Zone leading to their business going commercial in 2019.
The system they have created uses drones, AI, and machine learning to inspect the turbines for damage and collate and analyse data. This reduces the need for human inspection of the wind turbines and makes the process safer, more efficient and cost-effective.
In 2022 they turned their solution into bespoke modular systems that can be purchased by their customers to match their individual budget and challenges, making the product more accessible on a global scale.
Irenie Karachaliou is based in Athens and has worked with the team for a year in sales and marketing.
“As the business grows our mission is to collaborate on innovative projects to create a more sustainable world. While we are growing we are still a small team of around 30 people.
“To achieve our mission we strive to bring out the best in everyone, and that means focusing on our culture and how we work together as a team – even though we are based all over the world. Every day we schedule meetings, and we do two annual events in Bristol where we get to know each other through fun activity days.
“Future Space is a fantastic hub for us to build this culture. We can all meet there, and the space matches our changing needs as we grow. It’s perfect for a global hybrid team because we have flexible spaces to work in when we visit.
“I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Bristol. I’ve been to beer and pizza evenings – which is a great chance to meet other businesses who are going through a similar journey – and I’ve worked with our interns funded by UWE Bristol who have been helping to develop our drones and data processing.”
The innovative solutions from teams like Perceptual Robotics are helping to put Future Space and the University Enterprise Zone at UWE Bristol on the global map for advancements in robotics and drone technology.
Perceptual Robotics has been funded in this round by OnePlanet Capital, Susten, L-Stone Capital and additional investment from existing investors Brookstreet Equity Partners, Deeptech Labs, TSP Ventures and Metavallon VC. Perceptual Robotics has the backing of four funds from the UK and two from Europe.
