(Editor’s note: Terry Boyd also contributed to this post, part of our Tech Tuesday series, about Toyota’s investment in Gideon. Dispatches covers tech because so many of our highly skilled internationals are engineers and entrepreneurs.)
One of the world’s largest industrial conglomerates is turning to an upstart company from a relatively remote part of Croatia to revolutionize the autonomous industrial robotics sector. a sector that includes material handling and logistics. Toyota Industries Corp. (TICO) has announced a strategic investment in Croatia’s Gideon.
In media releases, both companies confirmed that TICO is investing an undisclosed amount in industrial robotics maker Gideon to develop vision-based autonomous mobile robotic technologies.
The two companies intersect at the nexus of warehouse automation. Gideon makes the “application stacks” – the CPUs, 3-D robotic vision technology and AI-enhanced software – enabling autonomous robots to navigate warehouses and factories, executing tasks such as unloading trucks, accessing parts and pick-and-pack fulfillment.
“Gideon has developed impressive vision modules enabling flexible, intelligent autonomous behaviour and user and deployment friendliness that will provide added value for our customers in the coming years,” states Toyota Industries Corporation Senior Executive Officer Norio Wakabayashi in a release.
“This investment enables Gideon to take advantage of Toyota’s global leading expertise in
production, broad market access and a global service network,” according to a Gideon release.
Emerging innovation center
Gideon’s cooperation with Toyota started at the beginning of 2024 with a formal agreement to cooperate.
Why is this news for expats? Because suddenly, Croatia is a very attractive player in yet another tech sector, strengthening its claim as a European innovation center … and increasing its attractiveness as a destination for highly skilled internationals. For example, Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac builds electric supercars under his own brands, and owns French exotic supercar brand Bugatti in a joint venture with Porsche.
Dispatches has written a lot about the tech revolution going on in Croatia, previously known for idyllic islands and beaches, Romanesque old towns and “Game of Thrones” set locations.
Previously, Croatia’s tech and startup scene was concentrated in and around Zagreb, the capital and largest city, with a few notable exceptions – but exceptions they are. Gideon is based in Osijek, a city in the poorest and most chronically overlooked region of Croatia, where your first associations are more about demographic issues, post-war recovery (yes, even 30-plus years later), and sweeping agricultural landscapes.
You can read more here about how Gideon rose from total obscurity to untethered success.
Founded back in 2017, Gideon found its feet amid the pandemic and now boasts about 80 employees. The company raised a series A investment round $31 million in 2021, so extrapolating from that, the Toyota investment is likely north of $100 million.
In addition to two offices in Croatia (more specifically in its “hometown” of Osijek and in Zagreb) the company has a team of five people across the pond in the United States who are responsible for Gideon’s expansion on that market, as well as working with clients.
TICO investment confirms Gideon’s importance
Gideon invests quite significantly in research and development, and they recently completed
the implementation of the A-Unit project, co-financed with European Union cash, the value of which stood at slightly more than 5.5 million euros.
As part of it, a unit for the autonomous management of mobile vehicles in logistics using the advanced technology of navigation and environment perception was developed. Automation in the field of logistics is otherwise a very competitive business that is constantly gaining momentum. Gideon occupies a significant market share, wth TICO’s investment a confirmation of that.
TICO will utilise Gideon’s technology within specific areas of its own enormous global portfolio which includes the companies Toyota Material Handling Group and Toyota Automated Logistics Group.
The application and use of Gideon’s technological solutions will be carried out by T-Hive, TICO’s global software house for autonomous vehicles.
Toyota Group, based outside Nagoya, Japan, is the umbrella organization for no less than 17 companies including Toyota Motor and TICO. Toyota Motor Corporation is the largest carmaker in the world, with $170 billion in top-line revenue in 2023.
With the TICO investment, Gideon – and Croatia – now are playing in the big leagues.
Lauren Simmonds
Lauren Simmonds is the editor of Total Croatia News, the largest English language portal in Croatia. She lives in Zagreb, Croatia, and is a translator, content writer, interpreter and the co-author of "Croatia - A Survival Kit for Foreigners," which was published in 2022.
