Since its establishment just a few years ago, the Danish robot company TinyMobileRobots has conquered a large part of the global market for line marking robots for sports fields and other infrastructure tasks. Now, German industrial group STIHL has acquired almost a quarter of the Danish robot company which in return will gain another strong investor capable of supporting rapid growth plans within the next few years.

For 90 years, German industrial group STIHL has held the position as the world’s leading manufacturer of chainsaws. In addition to this, STIHL also produces a wide selection of power tools, forestry machinery and robotic lawn mowers for prosumers and professionals alike. Especially STIHL’s robotic lawn mowers share a strong technical kinship with the advanced line marking robots produced by TinyMobileRobots, intended for use in sports fields and road construction.

During the last couple of years, STIHL Group has been following TinyMobileRobots closely as the company has grown 100 percent per year. Therefore, the corporate venture arm of the STIHL Group, STIHL Digital, now acquires 23,8 percent of TinyMobileRobots, thus buying out the company’s former venture capital company Borean Innovation. Private investor Anders Fauerskov (former co-owner of TC Group) will continue to own part of the company and remains a significant capital partner within the new circle of owners.

“We have been looking for a strong partner who can support our continued growth. Having Stihl as a partner is nothing short of a dream come true. Right from the outset, we will also benefit greatly from STIHL’s world-wide network of dealers. While maintaining our status as an independent company, we can draw on STIHL’s huge market experience to accelerate our growth further. To put it mildly, I’m very, very happy with this new development,” says Jens Peder Kristensen, founder and CEO of TinyMobileRobots.

Before investing in TinyMobileRobots, STIHL Digital has only invested in a few companies, primarily within forestry, landscape architecture, construction, farming and lawn care. In the short span of just a few years, TinyMobileRobots has however placed itself firmly in a position as the world’s leading supplier of line marking robots. In the US alone, the company now covers more than half the market. As the US is also one of STIHL’s expansion markets, both companies therefore see great potential and synergy in working together. Especially because TinyMobileRobots’ line marking robots meet a high customer demand for more sustainable products with its robots being powered by batteries instead of diesel and using significantly lower amounts of line paint compared to competing products.

“We have been in close contact with TinyMobileRobots for more than two years, and steadily, we have become more and more impressed with their growth rates and performance. So as the chance to acquire nearly a quarter of the company arose, we were quick to strike a deal. We feel convinced that our future collective efforts will lead to an even greater share of TinyMobileRobots’ fast growing and innovation driven market,” says Benjamin Junghans, Director of STIHL Digital.

TinyMobileRobots has continuously improved the technology in their robots. They are widely used by sports clubs, municipalities, and airports, but also increasingly by construction and engineering companies. Besides this, TinyMobileRobots has also developed a PropTech-robot for measurement of large indoor areas. For instance during construction of high risers, storage buildings, warehouses, and production facilities, where millions of square feet otherwise have to be measured manually. By using robots, these time-consuming tasks can be optimized radically.