Antwerp (BE), Detroit (US), Dubai (UAE), 16 February 2022 – Rombit has announced the closing of a 25 million USD series B funding round. The Belgian technology company pioneers with plug-and-play worker safety products that ensure real-time risk management. The round is led by Tikehau Capital and the Belgian Recovery Fund. This Belgian Government fund stimulates growth in the wake of the Covid crisis.
Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Vincent Van Peteghem announced the news during a press conference: “This first investment is the concrete kickoff of our Transformation Fund.” In an interview he underlines the strategic opportunities for Rombit: “Their wearable product has been discovered by many companies during the COVID crisis. It has proven to be an accelerator for Rombit to invest more and to grow.”
Rombit’s mission is to address the biggest risks in logistics, process industries and construction. After storming the world in 2020 with a contact tracing wearable, Rombit continues to eye the worker safety and productivity market.
“We service a dozen blue-chip customers that are looking to expand across sites. In order to satisfy demand we will increase our position in the difficult electronics market”, says Founder & Executive Director Jorik Rombouts. “With this funding round we are ready to scale our operations further in the EU, the US and the Middle East.”
Rombit designs multifunctional wearables. The ONE wearable automatically alerts when a frontline worker is in danger. In the vicinity of heavy equipment the device acts as a life saver, as it prevents struck-by accidents. As such, Rombit adds a real-time layer to existing risk management processes.
“Increased safety and productivity go hand in hand and immediately affect the customer’s bottom line. Our real-time data provides these insights”, adds COO & Head of Products Evert Bulcke. “We keep looking ahead and invest in self-learning and self-sustaining products. In the Connected Worker market Rombit wants to be the benchmark product.”
Full-stack solutions, with data security in mind
Investing in proprietary hardware, connectivity and software pays off. It allows Rombit to seamlessly deploy solutions that immediately bring value to customers and system integrators.
CTO Nico Janssens: “Our full-stack approach serves two main goals: packaging products in such a way that existing IT is not bothered in any way, and enforcing stringent data security and workforce privacy standards, end to end. Customers across the globe are increasingly aware of both risks, we address them by design.”
Rombit success equals customer success
Addressing complex blue-collar operations needs a hands-on approach. Rombit intends to use this funding round mainly to scale its customer service organization.
CSO Kimball Felix: “Premium online and on-site service is the key to unlocking all the value our products can bring to the table. We are very happy with the results of our proactive approach so far. But to support new deployments we are hiring customer success teams in both the EU and the US.”
Jobsite safety in the US is a prime concern
Rombit opened an office in the US during the COVID crisis and has witnessed an increasing demand for connected safety applications. Rombit’s products address risk and liability concerns from HSE managers and senior executives.
Dave Lambacher, Managing Director Rombit North America: “On the back of the success of the contact tracing product, we activated our worker safety applications. Logistics and construction activities share the same concerns, especially in industrial truck and frontline worker operations. Reassuring the workforce, reducing incident rates, working days lost and worker compensation claims is a priority for many.”
Workforce monitoring in the Middle East
The extreme growth of the industrial, construction and logistics market in the Middle East gives rise to new concerns about blue-collar operations and compliance. Managing thousands of workers is a growing concern.
Wassim Hamwi, Managing Director Rombit Middle-East: “Business leaders in the GCC countries have invested heavily to become best in class. Digital transformation is high on the agenda to further increase efficiency. Wearable IoT solutions support the quality, security and safety of their large-scale operations.”
About Rombit
Rombit connects humans and machines to make your industrial operations more safe and efficient. Based upon its technical expertise and vast industry know-how, Rombit offers integrated IoT products that ensure real-time risk management. Together with our partners, we offer the most optimal solution to your specific needs, helping you to excel in safety, efficiency and sustainability for your workforce and mobile equipment while reducing your operational expenses. www.rombit.com
