How ReMoni went from idea to 43 employees

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

The growth comet Remoni has secured 60 million kroner in capital for an international venture. But without soft money for development, the investors would never have had a documented good idea to invest in.

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 couldn’t have known that when we started.”

This small addition is an important part of the story about Remoni.

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

The company's solution is already used in 10-15 percent of the market in Denmark, and Remoni's new investors have injected 60 million kroner into the company since 2020 to pursue the international market, where the same challenges are faced.

A story of growth, export, investor coverage and success - but also a story that begins very humbly.

From idea to big business

In 2014, Bo Eskerod Madsen applied to EUDP for support 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 that someone should do something. With support from EUDP, 'someone' came to 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; over 50 million has been invested. kroner in developing and refining the products, and some of the researchers from the university who collaborated on the project are now among Remoni's 43 employees.

This pleases Jalil Boudjadar, associate professor at Software Engineering & Computing Systems at Aarhus University and one of the partners in the original innovation project:

"It is always great for researchers to see when research and ideas turn into technology that can be sold and make a real difference," says Jalil Boudjadar.

He sees participation in the innovation project as a great gain, 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 concrete challenges. So it is a mutually good collaboration," says Jalil Boudjadar.

Knowledge accelerates growth

When the business promotion system supports an innovative idea with funding, neither repayment nor return is expected. That is why 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 remove risk. Private investors don’t like ‘we think it works’. But when they know it works, they want to be involved, and that has accelerated our growth,” says Bo Eskerod Madsen:

“You shouldn’t underestimate the value of innovation projects as initiators of something bigger. They are super strong at getting something started that can then develop,” he says.

Result

• The basic methods for time synchronization and data exchange were implemented as a software prototype (AU).
• The basic methods for the calibration algorithm, user interfaces, cloud back-end updates, etc. were implemented as a software prototype (ReMoni).
• The solution was tested with end users and necessary adaptations were prioritized (Expero and DEM).
• The overall solution was implemented, tested and updated to TRL8 (ReMoni) in month 15.

Funding

The project was funded by Energy Cluster Denmark's support program Promoting innovation in green energy technology (FIE), a 3-year support program where small and medium-sized enterprises could collaborate on the development of electronic, innovative products with a focus on energy optimization. The FIE project was supported by the Regional Fund.