Guardforce AI to acquire China’s Kewei Robot

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Kewei Robot’s vertical takeoff and landing fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle. | Source: Kewei Robot

Guardforce AI announced that it signed a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) to acquire Shenzhen Kewei Robot Technology Company Limited, a Shenzhen Intelligent Guardforce Robot Co subsidiary. The purchase price and consummation of the acquisition are subject to the completion of Guardforce AI’s due diligence and an independent audit, as well as a third-party valuation and fairness opinion. 

Guardforce AI plans to pay for the acquisition with 10% cash and 90% common stock of the company at a value of at least $1 per share. Within the next few months, the company plans to enter into a definitive purchase agreement with Kewei Robot. 

Kewei Robot specializes in developing robotics software solutions and robotics management platforms, as well as robotics sales and technical services. The company offers a line of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It offers them under a Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) model.

“We are thrilled to announce this proposed acquisition of Kewei, a qualified National High-tech Enterprise in China, which holds more than a dozen robotics-related patents and more than 40 copyrights to its proprietary software. Its robotic solutions cover a variety of recurring revenue streams such as technical services and robotics advertising,” Lin Jia, President of Guardforce AI, said. “The RaaS platform currently operates approximately 65,000 robots that belong to Kewei, clients, and partners, of which more than 40,000 are equipped with screens for advertising and interactive features. Kewei’s customer base includes an impressive roster of Fortune 500 corporations across various industries. In 2021, the unaudited Chinese GAAP revenue for Kewei was approximately USD $15 million. Overall, we believe this proposed acquisition, including Kewei’s highly skilled R&D team, robust robotics platform, operational skills, as well as its advertising and technical capabilities, provide us a solid foundation to further expand our geographic footprint across China and other international markets.”

Originally, Guardforce AI announced an LOI to acquire 12 of Kewei Robot’s subsidiary companies, and before that, it planned to acquire seven of its subsidiaries. This new agreement supersedes and replaces both of these old agreements. 

“After conducting further due diligence, it became clear that acquiring Kewei itself, compared to acquiring only the Kewei sales channel subsidiaries, would add both a premier roster of business clients, as well as advanced technologies that we believe will help to accelerate our strategic expansion within the robotics industry worldwide. Overall, we remain focused on our goal to transform Guardforce AI into a leading integrated security company in AI and robotics.”

Guardforce AI is a global integrated security solutions provider that focuses on developing robotic solutions and information security services.