Overview
As a start-up, construction technology company, FBR knuckled down and weathered the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Today, as the world faces a new emergency, ASX-listed FBR has risen to meet the moment, with revolutionary bricklaying robotic technology that can keep construction moving, and actually accelerate it, even in a pandemic.
Reshaping Construction
It was a shortage of Western Australian bricklayers back in 2005 that led FBR founder, Mark Pivac, to create a robot that could lay bricks.
After a strong start, the GFC saw investors pause. FBR’s robotic technology spent several years in the wilderness until 2014 when the concept of a bricklaying robot piqued the interest of investors for a second time. By 2015, FBR had listed on the stock market and was working towards proof of concept for its second-generation bricklaying robot, Hadrian X®.
FBR lost no time and successfully developed Hadrian X® into a dynamic bricklaying robot. The robot showed it could work in outdoor environments, under different weather conditions, at new locations and take on new tasks every day. Hadrian X® also proved it could lay bricks so precisely that construction adhesive could be used instead of mortar.
Building a bridge to a capital raise
After its initial successes, FBR found itself in a catch-22 situation. It needed to raise more capital to continue scaling up. But optimising the timing and method of this funding round was important for FBR to stay focussed, on track and avoid becoming too diluted.
“Radium Capital’s online portal makes the process of getting an R&D advance fast, easy and efficient. And it’s competitively priced,” says Aidan Flynn, Chief Financial Officer, FBR.
Another major benefit of a Radium Advance was that this capital was effectively FBR’s own money—its R&D refund— arriving at exactly the right time.
Scaling up to meet Australian and global demand
After navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the future is bright for FBR. “The pandemic has shown how important robotic technology can be. Hadrian X® helps maintain social distancing on building sites. It also offers a solution for countries all around the world that can’t access the migrant labour they depend on for construction projects,” Aidan says.
Learn more by visiting about FBR by visiting fbr.com.au, or download the full case study.
