October the 28th, 2021 – Clobotics today announces, through its wholly owned subsidiary Clobotics Denmark ApS, the acquisition of Denmark-based Danish Blade Service ApS (“DBS”), a leading independent wind turbine repair solution provider serving customers across Europe. It is the third acquisition Clobotics has made in Europe since 2020 and marks a significant milestone to enter the sizable global wind turbine blade repair market.
“We welcome Brian and Lars to Clobotics. From day one of our founding, we are committed to being the global leader in providing technology solutions for the wind operations and maintenance (O&M) industry. We started with wind turbine inspection solutions and data analytics and are now the clear number one supplier in China with significant presence in Europe, South Africa, Southeast Asia, and North America. With the forthcoming launch of our cutting-edge blade repair robot, in-house subject matter experts and DBS’ deep industry knowledge and skill, I am confident that we can offer truly comprehensive and integrated technology solutions to cover the full value chain of the wind turbine blade O&M market.” said George Yan, CEO of Clobotics. “I also see great business synergies by bringing DBS’ operational expertise and best practice to our emerging repair operations in China.”
“As veterans like Brian Bendixen and Lars Andersen, we share the same exciting view that technology will substantially improve the labor-intensive wind O&M market and bring repair quality and documentation to a new standard. Our cutting-edge technology plus their decades of experience will certainly help Clobotics accelerate fundamental change in the industry.” added Mads Obling Rasmussen, Managing Director of Clobotics Wind Services EMEA. “We can now offer a full-stack of services including inspections, upgrades, and repairs, integrated with our data analytics covering the full wind turbine blade life cycle.”
“DBS is very pleased to be joining Clobotics. This is the right next step for us to further grow and mature our business and to implement our knowledge and experience on a more global scale” said Brian Bendixen, Founder, and Managing Director of DBS. Board Member Kim Wichmann-Hansen adds “roughly half of the annual operational budget for a wind turbine is made up of unplanned costs and with turbines getting bigger this is the right combination of hands-on experience powered by state-of-the-art technology. Since late 2018 we have worked on implementing a new growth strategy and this is the culmination showing our strategy has matured us to an attractive acquisition.”
Clobotics, with teams based in Esbjerg, Seattle, and Shanghai, has inspected over 15,000 wind turbines worldwide using its AI-based, end-to-end visual blade inspection system. In the field, the Clobotics IBIS™ drone system uses computer vision to automatically gather hundreds of high-resolution images per wind turbine at the push of a button. That data is then uploaded to the Clobotics IRIS™ cloud-based back end where images are automatically analyzed by machine learning models and reports and repair recommendations are generated for customers.The technology’s automation and ease of use enables its “Drone as a Service (DaaS)” offering where customers and partners can opt to train their own technicians to conduct inspections using the technology, adding flexibility and further cost savings potential.
The transaction is expected to close early next year and is subject to regulatory approval. After closing, DBS will become Clobotics’ dedicated repair business platform serving European and potentially international customers. Brian and Lars will continue driving the business development and operations of DBS with technology support from other colleagues around the world.
About Clobotics
Clobotics is a global leader in AIoT solutions for the wind power and retail industries. Clobotics’ end-to-end solutions combine computer vision, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and data analytics software with different hardware form factors, including autonomous drones, robots, mobile applications, and other Internet of Thing’s devices to help companies automate time-intensive operational processes, increase efficiencies, and boost the bottom line using real-time, data-driven insights and analysis. Clobotics was named the CNBC Upstart 100 List in 2018 and was highlighted as an important computer vision solution provider for the industrial sector in the latest Bloomberg NEF report on computer vision. To learn more, visit www.clobotics.com/wind.
About DBS DBS was founded in 2012 and offers various wind turbine blade repair solutions. This includes self-developed UV resin systems, carbon fiber de-icing repair solution and rotor performance improvement solutions. www.danishbladeservice.com
