The Ukrainian company Esper Bionics has closed a new investment round, and plans to expand production.
According to a statement, the $5 million round of financing was led by Munich-based venture fund YZR Capital, with cofinancing provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Horizon Capital u.ventures’ venture capital arm. The funds will be used to fuel Esper Bionics R&D, scale up production and modernize the Bionic ecosystem.
Esper Bionics has production facilities in Kyiv, and Berlin. Forbes reported that the startup will manufacture 30 prosthetics a month by June 2024. That’s over 300 per year. It aims to reach 500 by 2024. The company intends to use the funds raised for developing prosthetic controllers, as well as a cloud platform that has machine learning capabilities.
Esper Bionics was awarded a grant of $150,000 by USAID in May. The startup has received $7 million in investment since its inception. The founders have not disclosed the current valuation of the business.
About Esper Bionics:
Esper Bionics was founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneurs Dmytro Haza, Anna Belevantseva (economist), Ihor Ilchenko (former lawyer) and Boris Lobanov. The company develops robotic limbs. The startup employs more than 55 professionals, mainly technical specialists. Over the past 18 months, the team has grown by more than two-thirds.
New York is the headquarters of the company, which has offices in Lviv, Berlin, and New York. Esper Bionics is a major player in the United States, where prosthetics sold by insurance companies. There is a business team that manages partnerships and operational affairs. In Berlin, the focus of development is on firmware and electronics. The team in Ukraine is responsible for development, hardware components and all aspects of manufacturing and assembly.
80 Ukrainian defenders received bionic prosthetics through the social program Esper For Ukraine, funded by charitable funds.
Each prosthetic costs $22,000.