Hibot Corporation, a Japanese company led by Italian founder and CEO Michele Guarnieri, specialising in robotic solutions for the inspection and maintenance of critical infrastructure, has announced that it has secured a strategic investment from Terna Forward, a Terna Group company dedicated to corporate venture capital. Terna is the Italian transmission system operator (TSO) and the largest electricity transmission operator in Europe, with over 75,000 kilometres of power lines under management.
The investment follows more than two years of close technical and operational collaboration between Hibot and Terna, focused on the development of a new robotic system capable of performing maintenance operations on live power lines. The solution significantly improves operational safety by eliminating the need for workers to physically operate on live lines, while avoiding power outages. Furthermore, the technology contributes to a substantial reduction in CO₂ emissions, as helicopters are no longer required for these maintenance activities.
Hibot is internationally recognised for its long-standing commitment to developing robotic solutions for inspecting and maintaining infrastructure in hazardous and difficult-to-access environments. The company attracted worldwide attention for its implementation of robotic systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, an experience that led to the development of several leading products, including the Float Arm robotic platform.
Today, Hibot combines advanced robotic hardware with artificial intelligence-based data analytics through its proprietary digital platform HiBox, enabling safer operations, richer data capture and accelerated digital transformation for infrastructure operators.
Energy & Environment Investment (EEI) and Drone Fund led this financing round with Terna, bringing the total investment amount to ¥790 million, equivalent to approximately €4.3 million.
Thanks to this funding, Hibot will proceed with a new round of investments aimed at accelerating its global expansion. The company already operates internationally, with offices in Aachen (Germany) and Houston (USA), from where it distributes its robotic solutions to leading oil, chemical, energy and civil engineering companies around the world.
“We are proud of the trust that Terna Forward has placed in Hibot. This investment confirms our vision and accelerates our focus on robotic solutions for critical infrastructure, particularly high-voltage power transmission, building on the extremely strong and collaborative partnership we have developed with Terna to date. Furthermore, EEI’s new investment and Drone Fund’s continued investment demonstrate a deep understanding of the global and social impact of our solutions. Together with Terna, this marks an important milestone and a major step forward for Hibot. We sincerely appreciate their support,” said Guarnieri (pictured with Carla Napolitano, CEO of Terna Forward and head of innovation at Terna) in a statement.
Hibot has developed innovative robotic technologies capable of operating in extreme environments where human access is difficult, while acquiring highly advanced inspection data for infrastructure maintenance. Addressing ageing infrastructure is not only a critical issue in Japan, but a global challenge, and we are confident that Hibot’s solutions will significantly improve the resilience of asset maintenance through effective use of data. With the expectation that Hibot’s technologies will be implemented globally and have a significant impact in supporting the safety of social infrastructure, we have decided to make this investment. EEI will leverage its international network to support Hibot’s continued growth and development,” said Ryusuke Hayashi and Chihiro Ozaki of EEI.
“At Drone Fund, we promote the social implementation of autonomous robotics on land, sea and air to create a ‘society based on drones and air mobility’. Following our investment in the previous round, we are delighted to make a further investment in this round. New investors have joined this round of financing, bringing strong synergies in both business and research and development, and we find it very encouraging that this will serve as a catalyst for the company’s large-scale expansion into the global market. As a robotics company based in Japan, we expect Hibot to grow into a presence that can create real value in workplaces around the world. To further accelerate global expansion, we look forward to deepening our support together with the investors who have recently joined this round,” adds Yuki Nagasawa, Investment Director, Drone Fund.
The investment round involving Hibot – Terna Forward announced in a statement – is worth €981,000 for Terna as part of a transaction modelled on the most advanced corporate venture capital practices, using the J-KISS (Japanese Keep It Simple Security) instrument: an agreement that entitles the holder to future shareholdings in the company’s share capital. On the one hand, the choice of advanced instruments such as J-KISS demonstrates Terna Forward’s ability to adopt flexible and inclusive models, in line with leading international experiences and the recommendations of the main trade associations; on the other hand, it confirms its willingness to support the development of cutting-edge solutions, promoting the growth of innovative ecosystems and the creation of value.
This corporate venture capital initiative further strengthens the close working relationship between the Group led by Giuseppina Di Foggia and the innovative Japanese company. Specifically, Terna is testing a robotic solution that will make maintenance operations on power lines safer, assisting the Group’s personnel working in the field. A preliminary prototype robot has been developed with Hibot that is capable of moving along the conductors and ground cables of overhead power lines and performing maintenance even when the lines are live.
Terna Forward also announced that it has invested in Hypermeteo, an innovative Italian company founded in 2021 as a spin-off of the SME Radarmeteo, which has been operating in the field of professional meteorology since 2007. Terna Forward oversaw a capital injection totalling €1.3 million, contributing approximately €1 million as lead investor alongside existing shareholder BF Educational (BF Group), which contributed approximately €300,000.
Hypermeteo develops meteorological and climatic datasets (including, for example, data such as temperature, wind speed, hail intensity, solar radiation and cloud cover) that can be integrated into business operations. By combining the information available through deterministic models and artificial intelligence algorithms developed by Hypermeteo itself, the company produces a grid of meteorological and climate data with highly accurate spatial resolution over different time intervals. The innovative company already collaborates with Terna, providing data, models and scenarios of enormous importance in the formation of 15-day forecasts on electricity production and demand, in order to optimise market management.
With these two new transactions, Terna Forward has made a total of seven direct investments in innovative start-ups and SMEs, consolidating its presence in the world of corporate venture capital. These investments adopt an open innovation approach to identify and support the most promising companies, through technologies that accelerate the energy transition and contribute to the sustainable development of the electricity system.
In addition to investments in Hibot and Hypermeteo, Terna Forward has completed direct investment rounds in Wesii, an Italian company active in inspection and remote sensing services for the energy sector; Unusuals, a Spanish start-up specialising in the application and training of artificial intelligence models and algorithms for the identification of potential anomalies during energy transmission on the grid; D-Orbit, a spacetech company that innovates space logistics and satellite management; Mela Works, an Italian start-up focused on the digitisation and monitoring of construction site activities; and Eoliann, a company active in climatetech and climate risk analysis using satellite data and artificial intelligence. In total, Terna Forward has made approximately €7 million in direct investments.
Terna Forward is also a Limited Partner in the Energy Tech and Infra Tech segments of CDP Venture Capital’s Corporate Partner I Fund, which has already made numerous investments in digital and sustainable technologies for the energy transition. In addition, Terna Forward has joined two of the most important associations in the sector, Italian Tech Alliance and AIFI, to gain an even more effective overview of the corporate venture capital landscape and to better support its investment activities.
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