Chrysalix Venture Capital, a global venture capital fund with a long history of commercializing step-change innovation for resource intensive industries, announces a Seed investment in Applied Impact Robotics (AIR), developers of a solution for the in-service inspection and maintenance of Aboveground Storage Tanks (“ASTs”).
Applied Impact Robotics’ solution is an alternative to human entry that improves safety, minimizes shutdown times and reduces costs. The robotic innovation, based on biomimicry, utilizes pneumatic vibration to navigate and operate seamlessly in a variety of sludge conditions that would normally require an offline tank cleaning prior to an inspection.
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“There are 45,000+ heavy crude tanks globally with approximately 10% inspected each year,” said Alfred Lam, Partner at Chrysalix Venture Capital. “At an average out-of-service turnaround cost of $2M/tank, the opportunity and value for an in-service solution is significant.”
“It is really thrilling to see our original concept robotic solution from the PETRONAS Incentive Challenge become reality,” said Fred Briggs, CEO of Applied Impact Robotics. “We are excited to work with Chrysalix and PETRONAS, and help build the facilities of the future.”
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In 2019, Chrysalix, in partnership with PETRONAS, Malaysia’s leading oil & gas company, launched a Tank Inspection Incentive Challenge on the HeroX platform. The contest attracted global attention, with nearly 50 teams submitting entries from around the world. A panel of judges made up of experts from Chrysalix, PETRONAS, Sprint Robotics and RoboValley at TU Delft reviewed the entries and selected AIR as the solution with the greatest breakthrough potential, and provided a $250K Pre-Seed Investment.
The Chrysalix RoboValley Fund invests in intelligent systems enabled by AI, IoT and sensor technologies to achieve significant improvements in productivity and critical business processes. Investors in the fund include Fortune 500 companies, leading corporates, financial institutions, family offices and universities.
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