Orqa: driving the robotics revolution

“In essence, our technology pipeline is like a box of LEGO bricks. Individual pieces work for other projects but put them all together – and you get our final product,” smiles Srdjan Kovacevic, co-founder of Orqa.

FULL STACK TECHNOLOGY

Based in Osijek in eastern Croatia, Orqa is designing equipment for First Person View (FPV) drone piloting and advanced Remote Reality (RR) applications. The company began in the high-performance world of FPV racing, where elite pilots needed the best gear to compete. Today, Orqa is developing the entire FPV technology stack – from antennas and radio controllers to headsets and low-latency video transmission systems. “If you pick a western drone company at random, chances are they are using Orqa technology,” he says.

MADE IN EUROPE

Srdjan notes that Orqa is one of the few companies in the FPV market doing almost all its engineering in-house: “The hardest part is being great at all of these things at the same time,” he explains. Their products are proudly labelled ‘Made in Europe’. There’s a reason for this approach: many of the company’s customers are in the defence sector – and they want European components. “We’re engineers – we love to build things and we’re stubborn by trade. But we also wanted to show everyone you can do this from a small town like Osijek,” Srdjan adds. Many of Orqa’s employees have relocated from across the continent to Osijek – a relatively small town that’s now attracting talent rather than losing it.

Srdjan, together with co-founders Ivan Jelušić and Vlatko Matijevic, received early backing from DayOne Capital, a Hungarian venture capital fund backed by the EIF. “They didn’t need validation. They didn’t follow the herd. They liked what they saw and decided to throw their weight behind us,” says Srdjan, “That’s the beauty of venture capital.”

TODAY’S DEFENCE, TOMORROW’S INNOVATION

Orqa wants to help Europe reclaim leadership in a sector Srdjan believes is on the cusp of transformation: robotics. “Robotics isn’t just about movement – we don’t just do what’s attractive, we’re also interested in the stuff that’s boring, but necessary. The kind of tasks that improve efficiency across sectors – from agriculture to logistics.” He firmly believes that technologies that are funded and first developed for defence will quickly find civilian applications. Demand is growing for the kinds of components Orqa produces. “That’s the beauty of our Lego bricks – they can be applied to projects in utilities, construction, infrastructure maintenance, and more. Our goal is to offer enterprise solutions that unlock the next wave of adoption.”

BUILDING WHAT’S NEXT

Orqa is currently raising its Series A funding round. The plan? To launch a new part of their ever-growing toolkit and scale up manufacturing. But the robotics revolution goes beyond their own growth. Today, Orqa is present in more than 500 schools across Croatia. They help teachers introduce STEM concepts using drones. “We give kids a controller and a video game. They fly, crash, repair – then they need to figure out how it works. We show them how to fix their tiny drones so they can fly again, and in the process we teach them about the batteries and radio waves, things that may otherwise be boring to them. And without realising it – they’re getting into engineering.”

Location: Osijek, Croatia
Financial Intermediary: DayOne Capital
SME: Orqa
Sector: dual-use technologies
Number of employees: 100
Financing purpose: product development
EIF financing: IFE Facility