“Innovation projects take away the risk that investors don’t like”

Growth comet Remoni has secured DKK 60 million in capital for an international venture. But without soft money for development, investors would never have had a proven good idea to bet on.

From 3 to 43 employees in eight years; established market leader in Denmark and millions in capital injection from investors who believe in the company’s solution on the international market.

“In retrospect, this is an obvious success,” says Bo Eskerod Madsen, founder and co-owner of the company Remoni:

“But we didn’t know that when we started.”

The small addition is an essential part of the story of Remoni.

Because in retrospect, the company is unquestionably a success. Remoni has developed a sensor and an algorithm that makes it easier and cheaper to monitor technical installations, reducing and eliminating waste of energy, water and productivity.

Already now, the company’s solution is used in 10-15 percent of the market in Denmark, and Remoni’s new investors have since 2020 poured DKK 60 million into the company to chase the international market, where the same challenges exist.

A story of growth, exports, investor support and success – but also a story that begins very humbly.

From idea to big business

In 2014, Bo Eskerod Madsen applied to EUDP for funding for the environmental project Powerclamp, which was to make monitoring of technical installations cheaper and better, so that the environment could be spared unnecessary waste.

“We had seen a need for a smarter way and thought someone should do something. With support from EUDP, ‘someone’ then joined us,” says Bo Eskerod Madsen.

Today, the small project with one idea, three employees and one million kroner in support has grown significantly. Remoni has received capital; More than DKK 50 million has been invested in developing and refining the products, and some of the researchers from the university with whom they collaborated in the project are now among Remoni’s 43 employees.

Jalil Boudjadar, associate professor at Software Engineering & Computing Systems at Aarhus University and one of the partners in the original innovation project, is pleased with this:

“It’s always great for researchers to see when research and ideas become a technology that can be sold and make a real difference,” says Jalil Boudjadar.

He sees participation in the innovation project as a great benefit, and the university has launched new projects together with Remoni:

“It is interesting for researchers to go from paper and calculations to real products, and the collaboration with Remoni makes us even sharper at working with specific challenges. So it is a mutually good cooperation,” says Jalil Boudjadar.

Knowledge accelerates growth

When the business support system supports an innovative idea with funding, neither repayment nor return is expected. Therefore, the support is also called ‘soft money’.

Remoni is a good example of how ‘soft money’ can pave the way for ‘hard cash’:

“We are the story of a small project that became the lever for something big. The support meant that we went from idea to project and today have a product,” says Bo Eskerod Madsen:

“The support can eliminate risk. Private investors don’t like ‘we think it works’. But when they know it works, they want to join, and that has accelerated our growth,” says Bo Eskerod Madsen:

“One should not underestimate the value of innovation projects as the initiator of something bigger. They are super strong at getting started on something that can then develop,” he says.

When Remoni founder Bo Eskerod Madsen joined Powerclamp in 2014; For example, if we were involved in an environmental project with DKK 1 million in EUDP funding, it was about making monitoring of technical installations cheaper and better. Today, the company has grown to 43 employees, and in the past two years, external investors have invested DKK 60 million in the company with the goal of expanding Remoni’s solutions internationally.

The PowerClamp project was facilitated by Energy Cluster Denmark and had these partners with them: Remoni, Expero A/S, the Danish Energy Management Association and Aarhus University.

“We are the story of a small project that became the lever for something big,” says Bo Eskerod Madsen.