Danish robotics company acquired by US tech giant

Teradyne acquires Universal Robots for close to two billion kroner

Christian Wenande

May 14, 2015

Danish robots company Universal Robots has been sold to US automatic test systems firm Teradyne for close to 2 billion kroner.

Teradyne will assume control of the Odense-based and privately-owned robot producer before the end of June, pending the approval of the competition authorities.

“The combination will boost our ability to innovate and recruit even more and will therefore extend our lead within collaborative robotics and be of benefit to all our end-users and partners. At the same time, we are proud to add a brand new line of business to Teradyne,” said Enrico Krog Iversen, the CEO of Universal Robots.

“Our operations have been profitable since late 2010. Teradyne’s world-class engineering and support capabilities and strong financial position will help accelerate the growth of our collaborative robots in new and existing markets – especially in Asia where Teradyne holds a very strong position.”

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Robots for all
Universal Robots increased its profits by 70 percent to 38 million kroner last year as its turnover also doubled.

Universal Robots – founded by Esben Østergaard, Kasper Støy and Kristian Kassow, three scientists who wanted to make robot technology more accessible to everyone – has subsidiary companies and regional offices in the US, Spain, Germany, Singapore and China and employs 150 people.

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