AFK “Sistema” may invest in the manufacturer of bionic prostheses “Motorika”
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AFK Sistema may invest in Motorika, a manufacturer of bionic prostheses, Kommersant sources say. The company does not deny that it is looking for investors. The interest of large companies in the segment has increased due to the growing demand for bionic prostheses against the backdrop of hostilities: according to experts, their share already accounts for more than 55% of the market. But because of the sanctions, Russian manufacturers have had difficulties, they have to quickly change European components to Chinese ones.
Kommersant’s sources said that Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s AFK Sistema is showing interest in entering the market of bionic prostheses and may buy a stake in Motorika LLC. Ilya Chekh, co-founder of Motorika, only clarified that the company is “preparing to attract a new round of investments and communicates with various investors.” AFK Sistema declined to comment.
According to SPARK-Interfax, Motorika LLC was established in 2015, 77.9% belongs to Homo Aktus LLC (37.32% belongs to PPIT-15 LLC, the former RDIF-Investment Management 19, the rest belongs to five individuals), 22.1% – UK Far East Fund for High Technologies (67% for Rosnano and 33% for VEB.DV). At the end of 2022, Motorika’s revenue amounted to 610.4 million rubles. with a net profit of 85.4 million rubles.
Motorik told Kommersant that they “continue to develop supplies throughout the Russian Federation, the CIS and in the countries of India and Southeast Asia: Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand.” In 2023, the company decided to launch a line of robotic leg prostheses, added there, and is now looking for ready-made solutions or development teams with pre-series production. The plans, they say in Motorik, are going to an IPO. By March 2022, according to its own data, the company as a whole produced 3500 prostheses, and in the year after that – another 1800.
The fact that the market for prostheses in 2023 may face increased demand due to hostilities, market participants assumed last fall (see Kommersant dated October 27, 2022). The authorities have repeatedly spoken about the need to stimulate the development of the production of prostheses and components for them. Thus, in January, President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to consider the development in the Russian Federation of “the production of prostheses, components for them and the starting materials used for their production.”
Over the past year, large Russian companies have begun to show interest in investing in companies that develop and manufacture bionic prostheses, Timur Sayfutdinov, CEO of MaxBionic, confirms: “There is an increase in the number of contracts for prosthetics for participants in a special military operation.” At the same time, there are practically no reliable data on the size of the market, said Mr. Saifutdinov. “About 200-300 microprocessor-controlled prosthetic hands are sold every year. One prosthesis can cost from 2 million rubles. taking into account the installation, ”added the top manager. According to him, 1,000-2,000 pieces of lower limb prostheses with a microprocessor are sold. per year, at a “similar unit price”.
The market for upper limb prostheses is growing by more than 15% per year, and the share of bionic and traction prostheses already exceeds 55% and is increasing, Artur Martirosov, venture partner of the Voskhod Foundation, clarifies: the trend is to conduct SVO”.
At the same time, the market was seriously affected by the sanctions. Mr. Sayfutdinov explains that the chips and motors that companies use in the production of prostheses are imported: Swiss, Chinese and German, “there are no suitable Russian components.” Now there are “a number of problems” with the purchase of components for rehabilitation equipment, due to the sanctions policy and the withdrawal of some manufacturers from the Russian market, admits KRET (part of Rostec, produces prostheses).
If we talk about components for bionic prostheses, microcontrollers and micromotors, then the previously used European electronics could be replaced with Chinese counterparts, says Mr. Chekh, confirming that there are no Russian components suitable for the production of bionic prostheses on the market: “As far as I know, the Ministry of Industry and Trade planned finance the development of micromotors. But the problem is that such a component is used in a limited amount of equipment: in addition to prostheses, these are robots and exoskeletons.” He adds that even if the production of micromotors is mastered in the Russian Federation, without an increase in the number of companies producing robots, prostheses and similar equipment, the demand for components will not be able to be met.
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