Scaleup Vlaanderen
One Million Club visiting Rombit
When the corona crisis was just erupting, journalists from all over the world flocked to Antwerp. There they saw how a Flemish scaleup came up with a solution that could be used worldwide to keep factories running. Jorik Rombouts, founder of Rombit, told us during our One Million Club, among other things, how his company managed to do this.
As a teenager, Jorik Rombouts already knew what he would later become: a pharmacist. Just like his father, he would manufacture and sell pills on a daily basis, although his approach would be slightly different. Rombouts would develop a fully automated pharmacy. Yet, in the sixth grade, he decided to take a different path. He would not take over his father's pharmacy, but study to become an industrial engineer. Standing behind the counter all day did not appeal to him.
Rombouts began his studies full of enthusiasm, but gradually lost interest because he had found the great love. From now on, all his time went to... web development. "Domotics was just emerging, and I found it incredibly fascinating to control certain things via the web," Rombouts told Scaleup Flanders' One Million Club. Some fifty companies with a turnover or capital round of at least one million euros came to listen to the Antwerp native.
After switching to the KHK in Geel, Rombouts was able to focus undisturbed on web development. Initially, he developed websites for real estate agents and even designed his own software package for this purpose. Later, the focus shifted more and more to applications in the port sector. Just think of Romware, a smart safety bracelet that sends out an emergency signal if a worker falls, and vibrates and lights up if a forklift comes too close.
If there is anyone who represents the concept of "daring to do business" it is Rombouts. This is evident from an anecdote from the period when Rombit had just started. "I was active as an entrepreneur in Antwerp, but I found it strange that the mayor of Antwerp did not know me and vice-versa. So I called the city hall and asked if I could speak to the mayor. The dumbfounded person on the other end of the line put me through to Bart De Wever's economic advisor, to whom I explained that I thought it would be a good idea to come and introduce myself."
Not much later, the entrepreneur was allowed to visit the city hall, where he enthusiastically told about his plans in Antwerp. When the mayor heard that Rombit had quite a few projects underway in the port, he promptly decided to take the twenty-something with him on a trade mission to the East. "Everyone who goes along is in their fifties or sixties, you have to come along. Next week, by the way, I'm giving a press conference about an Antwerp project for young entrepreneurs, aren't you coming? Then you can tell the press what you just told me," he said.
The trade mission proved to be a crucial step in Rombit's growth. By talking to someone else each time during long bus rides, Rombouts was not only challenged to get his story even sharper, it also yielded an order book full of contracts in the Port of Antwerp.
At the One Million Club, Rombouts not only talked about the highs, but also the lows he experienced with his scaleup. For example, one of the first investors withdrew because he did not believe in the potential of wearables, and at one point Rombouts and his father were 100% private guarantors for a loan of several million. If it had gone wrong then, both would have lost everything.
The Procession of Echternach to raise capital got a boost, oddly enough, when the corona crisis hit. Thanks to then VP of Product Evert Bulcke, who took the gamble of using the scaleup's technology to keep workers at an appropriate distance from each other. If they got too close to another, the smart bracelet would sound the alarm. "The Port of Antwerp was the first to use the technology. From all over the world, journalists came by to film. In the end, we had five thousand requests for quotes, 150 of which came from Fortune 500 companies. Our limited stock of 6,000 wearables flew out the door in no time."
Earlier this year, Rombit was allowed to announce that it raised 20 million euros from the government's Belgian Recovery Fund. This allows the company to focus on the further development of the product and international expansion. With a turnover of more than 6 million euros, Rombit has now definitely earned its membership of the One Million Club!
