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‍Disclaimer: This is a convenience translation. There may be slight differences from the original article.

Circus took over the cooking robot start-up Aitme in 2023 and wanted to slow down for the time being. Now a billion-euro deal seems to be on the cards.

When the Hamburg-based food start-up Circus took over the cooking robot start-up Aitme in August 2023 (https://gvpraxis.food-service.de/gvpraxis/news/robotik-uebernahme-von-kochroboter-startup-aitme-57027), insiders were talking about a purchase price in the low single-digit millions. Now Circus in China has announced a letter of intent to set up a network of food robots, the business volume of which is again estimated to be in the low single digits - but this time it is in the billions.

The partner in the deal is the Beijing University Food Raw Material Joint Procurement Center. Founded in 2001, it serves as a central platform for the procurement of raw materials for over 90 universities and educational institutions in Beijing under the management of the Ministry of Education. Millions of meals are provided here every day.
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Volume: well over 1 billion euros

The state-owned institution and Circus intend to jointly build and scale an autonomous fresh food delivery system with the Circus Autonomy One (CA-1). The fully automated, self-cleaning 5,400 cooking robot for China The global roll-out of Circus SE is set to begin in Asia According to Circus, the cooking robot is capable of dosing, cooking and packaging ingredients autonomously - up to 85 meals per hour - in a compact space of just 20 square meters.

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Circus Food Roboter CA-1 Bild: Circus SE

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A total of 5,400 CA-1s are to be deployed in Beijing over a period of four years. At a current list price of 250,000 euros, the deal would amount to around 1.3 billion euros. The technological dimension is also huge (https://www.4investors.de/nachrichten/boerse.php?sektion=stock&ID=177364): "The automation of the food supply at Beijing universities is one of the largest robotics projects in the world and a milestone in commercial AI," says Johannes Stoels from the stock market portal www.4investors.de, quoting Circus founder and CEO Nikolas Bullwinkel.
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Surprising move into China‍

The announcement by the start-up, which was only founded in 2021, came as a surprise even to industry experts in view of the company's development and the German market, not least because of its size. Bullwinkel agrees: "We recognized China as an important market for us early on, but we ourselves are surprised by the momentum," he told 4investors.de. Until recently, Circus had communicated its intention to focus on research and development. This was financed from the total of around 40 million euros
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Head of the Mechanical Engineering team at Circus testing components. Picture: Circus SE

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Developers use state-of-the-art software to ensure seamless processes at every step - from filling the ingredients to handing over the finished dish. Picture: Circus SE

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In January, on the occasion of the start of trading in Circus shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Xetra, Bullwinkel told the FAZ that he would "first invest more in research and development to ensure that our product works flawlessly before we take the step towards scaling up." In mid-May, an ad hoc announcement stated that the core operating business was still in the development phase as planned. In 2023, investments were made both in the development of Circus Robotics and in the further development of the Circus operating system (Circus OS). "To date, revenue has been generated exclusively from the in-house operation of operational test kitchens for the validation of developed technologies.

In mid-May, an ad hoc announcement stated that the core operating business was still in the development phase as planned. In 2023, investments were made in the development of Circus Robotics as well as in the further development of the Circus operating system (Circus OS). "To date, revenue has been generated exclusively from the in-house operation of operational test kitchens for the validation of developed technologies.
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Special team for the Asian market

The outlook for 2024 did not sound very spectacular: as in 2023, the 2024 financial year will be characterized by the further development of the technology and preparations for series production. However, "promising negotiations on potentially large-volume customer contracts" were mentioned.

These now seem to have materialized. On May 23, Circus (https://www.boerse-frankfurt.de/nachrichten/EQS-News-Circus-Group-bereitet-Markteintritt-in-Asien-vor-deutsch-5e5611-7905-4239-820d-5b332838c0c3) announced that a special team was being set up for the Asian market. Prof. Lin Yang, an experienced entrepreneur, has been recruited to strengthen the company's regional presence as local managing director for the Asia-Pacific region for the upcoming market launch in Asia. Yang will be responsible for the local business strategy and partnerships focused on driving growth and building a sustainable presence in the region.

Circus will initially market its robots in Europe and the USA from its German headquarters in Hamburg. The indicatively high demand from Asia in recent months and the corresponding interest in Circus' robots have made it necessary to set up local teams.

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Goal: Robots for 4,000 universities in China

It is now becoming clear just how large the volume could be: Circus was one of 130 competing approaches for full automation that the customer from China was looking at. The aim now is to work together in four phases, explains CEO Bullwinkel: in the first phase, Circus will test its robots in a local beta environment at educational institutions in Beijing, where it has exclusive market access.

Phase two comprises the pre-series rollout, in which 1,080 robots from European production will be delivered.Parallel to this phase, local production is to be set up in China in order to distribute 4,320 CA-1s to 92 universities in Beijing in the third phase.

But that's not all.If the plans can be realized to this extent, the business culminates in phase 4: "In the fourth and final phase, our customer supports us with the nationwide rollout, with the aim of reaching 4,000 universities with a total of 60 million students," explains Bullwinkel.

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Declaration of intent concrete, but not binding

How much of this will actually be realized remains to be seen: The memorandum of understanding signed in Beijing outlines the basic conditions of future cooperation between the two parties and is not legally binding. It merely serves to define the key points of the future contractual agreement until the detailed and legally binding contracts have been drawn up, according to the ad hoc news item distributed at the launch (https://www.boerse-frankfurt.de/nachrichten/EQS-News-Circus-Group-unterzeichnet-Absichtserklaerung-ueber-die-Einfuehrung-von-5400-CA-1-Food-Robotern-in-Pekinger-Bildungseinrichtungen-deutsch-4f059dd9-8eb1-4aa2-8efc-c2ed078d0438).

It seems unlikely that implementation could take place without direct Chinese company involvement. Although Circus recognizes a corresponding interest, there are currently no plans to do so. The next steps for the practical implementation of the deal are currently being planned with various partners - keyword: production capacities. In particular, this involves various topics such as production, logistics, maintenance and service. "For example, we are talking to very strong production partners who can cover the resulting demand," says Bullwinkel. "According to our current planning, the first robots will be deployed locally in China at the beginning of next year at the earliest. The complete implementation of the first three phases of our collaboration will take at least four years."

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Promise of growth boosts share price

CIRCUS SE

Industry: Foodservice and Robotics
Headquarters: Hamburg
Founding year: 2021
Management: Nikolas Bullwinkel (CEO), Carsten Wille (CCO),
Dr. Helge Plehn (CTO), Fabian Becker (CFO)
Employees: +80
Locations: Hamburg, Berlin und München
Product: Circus Autonomy One (CA-1). The company's own robot
can take on the entire range of tasks, from precise dosing of ingredients
to cooking, tidying up and packing meals.
Milestones:
Founded August 2023 Acquisition of food robot start-up Aitme,
establishment of a research and development center in MunichListing
on the Munich Stock Exchange at the end of 2023Listing on Xetra
at the beginning of 2024
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There are currently 22,620,000 Circus SE shares, some of which have been traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Xetra since January. In the run-up to the stock exchange listing, shares from the holdings of existing shareholders were reallocated to companies and individuals at the same valuation as the last financing round in order to create the free float required for the stock exchange listing. These were strategically important players for the company, for example in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence, which now represent the free float.

The share price hovered between 10 and 13 euros until May 23. With the announcement of the market entry in Asia, it rose sharply, peaking at EUR 33.80 on June 13. The current price (June 19, 12:50 p.m.) is 25.40 euros. Some shareholders may therefore have cashed in a little. However, these are unlikely to include the original shareholders, founders and management. According to Bullwinkel, they had agreed to a lock-up of up to five years.

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You can find the article here: https://gvpraxis.food-service.de/gvpraxis/news/milliarden-deal-food-roboter-made-in-germany-nach-china-60034‍‍‍
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