ExoAtlet, a Russian maker of rehabilitation exoskeletons to help disabled people walk again, has raised $5 million from Korean Cosmo & Company. The funding is coming in addition to a previous round last year from the same investor.
In 2016 ExoAtlet obtained official certification to sell its exoskeletons in South Korea. A local subsidiary, ExoAtlet Asia, was registered with a local team trained by the Russian startup’s engineers.
In the field of technology, the ‘Made in Russia’ label seems to be perceived positively in South Korea. “[ExoAtlet’s local representatives] do say it was developed in Russia. That helps promote the product in the local market, where people think highly of Russian engineering and software,” reported Kirill Kaem, Skolkovo’s senior vice president for innovations, citing exchanges with ExoAtlet.
Woo Yoon-keun, ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Russia, congratulated both companies at a signing ceremony, adding that Korean-Russian relations are strong in the field of IT and innovations.
From first sales in South Korea to global leadership ambitions
Thus Korea became ExoAtlet’s first foreign market, followed by Japan. Fuelled by Cosmo & Company’s funding, the next expansion stages will target the European, Chinese and US markets, where ExoAtlet intends to open local offices in the next few months.
ExoAtlet Global, the new company set up under the agreement with Cosmo & Company, chose Luxembourg as its European headquarters. This small country is very convenient for global medical companies in terms of logistics, certification and also taxes, explained Ahn Sung Duk, CEO of Cosmo & Company.
ExoAtlet plans to obtain CE marking (a benchmark of compliance with health, safety and environmental protection standards within the European Economic Area) for its medical exoskeletons, which will mean they can be sold within the 28 member states of the EU, as well as in Norway, Turkey, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. R&D and exoskeleton assembly will remain in Russia, using components that are 80% made in Russia.
Aiming to become “number 1 on the global market,” the company plans to expand to India next year.
ExoAtlet has developed Russia’s first exoskeleton, which enables people who have lost the use of their legs to stand up, sit down, walk and go up and down stairs without assistance. In addition to helping people recover their mobility, regular training in an exoskeleton has been shown to improve the patient’s muscle tone and a range of other heath factors, as well as their self-confidence and overall wellbeing.
Created by a team of professors and postgraduates at Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Research Institute of Mechanics, the startup emerged on the Russian startup scene in 2014, when it won the first prize at Startup Village, a major international event held each year in Moscow.
The startup is a resident of Skolkovo, the international tech hub under completion on the outskirts of Moscow.
