Blue Workforce expands its robot business in Asia with investment from a Chinese partner.

Blue Workforce, an Aalborg, Denmark-based company manufacturing a lightweight industrial robot for pick-and-place operations, announced closing a DKK 18M ($2.8M) investment deal with an undisclosed Chinese investor.

The transaction was agreed upon in March 2017 and signed off in November at a DKK 250M ($39M) valuation of the company. The Chinese part owns 15.9% of the newly founded entity.

The money will be used to setting up a joint venture initiative in Hong Kong as the Chinese investor, represented in the company's board by Hai Chang, is becoming Blue Workforce’s Asian partner. The objective is to expand the operations in Asia and increase production capacity, also based in China.

Blue Workforce is a family business founded in 2012 by entrepreneur Preben Hjørnet together with his wife and his son. The company developed the RAGNAR Robot, a lightweight industrial robot which can be used for pick-and-place operations. The robot (named after a legendary Viking) is designed to serve the packaging, sorting, and handling needs of the food industry. The price for a robot is around €40k ($43k).

At the end of 2016, Blue Workforce acquired Switzerland-based Coppelia Robotics GmbH, which produces the V-REP simulation tool. After this transaction, Marc Freese, the Swiss founder of Coppella, owns 10% of Blue Workforce.