Specialist
Former executive at Get Fabric Ltd (CommonSense Robotics Ltd)
Agenda
- Exotec's offering vs peers such as AutoStore, highlighting hardware, software, pricing and quality
- Fundraising and expected use of proceeds
- Potential for category expansion, including grocery
- Scalability, hardware manufacturing and data collection for software development
- SI (system integrator) relationships and strategic end game
Questions
1.
Exotec announced in January 2022 that it had raised USD 335m at a USD 2bn valuation. What do you expect that capital to be spent on?
2.
Do you expect Exotec to remain as a pure CAPEX play with this move towards market expansion and direct sales, or are there any options to change the business model?
3.
How much closer to the third-party-logistics-type offerings would Exotec become if it does move more towards a rental model? Might the company end up capturing some of the third-party logistics players’ TAM?
4.
How many installations might Exotec have in three years? I think in July 2021 the company said it was targeting 31 installations. How much of the capital was allocated to building out the number of installations?
5.
What part of reaching 1,000 robot deployments is most difficult? Is this access to skilled labour, the supply chain or something else?
6.
What are the working capital requirements of a CAPEX model for Exotec’s build-out of 1,000 robot deployments in three years? What typical inventory term would you need to invest?
7.
How do the receivables and payables stack up? Does that typically even out?
8.
What is the highest amount of growth you can self-fund from pre-payments and free cash flow of the business? I imagine there’s a point at which the growth is so high you can’t do it from your free cash flow.
9.
How similar are Exotec and AutoStore’s offerings? How are they revolutionary vs other competitors?
10.
Is Exotec broader than the pure ASRS [automated storage and retrieval system] that AutoStore operates in?
11.
Does Exotec’s additional picking arm make the offering particularly unique? Do the buying criteria change because of that?
12.
What do you think the TAMs are for Exotec and AutoStore? Are they largely the same? Which customers would be more likely to choose an Exotec vs an AutoStore offering?
13.
Which parts of the TAM does Exotec’s on-demand offering appeal to? How meaningful is this and is it for new markets of same-day delivery or for existing markets? You mentioned AutoStore is starting to get long in the tooth and isn’t designed for on-demand orders.
14.
How far behind is Exotec’s software, given the number of installations there are for it? How much does data allow you to improve your software as the number of deployments scales?
15.
For ASP, Exotec is expected to have around one-third of the revenue for 2021 and it is around 5% of the installations compared to Autostore. Is there a meaningful difference in the ASP for these deployments?
16.
What are your thoughts on the first-mover advantages in this industry? What are the major barriers to entry, aside from capital? Are there particular barriers in the systems integrator or with the data that can scale?
17.
Exotec’s offering seems to be a converted AMR [autonomous mobile robot] system. How easy do you think it would be for players such as Daifuku and Knapp to enter with their systems into direct competition?
18.
How might AutoStore’s position develop? Exotec seems as if it could gain meaningful market share and you’ve also got Knapp and Attabiotics.
19.
How might the ASP develop? Do you think it will reduce and bite into margins as the industry becomes more competitive?
