Vertex Industries — Annual Report · 2025 11 / 15
Inside Kestrel
Why warehouse robotics
When Vertex Industries announced the CHF 120 million acquisition of Kestrel Robotics in February 2025, some investors asked a fair question: why is an industrial-automation group venturing into warehouses? The answer rests on a simple observation — our customers were already there. More than half of our manufacturing accounts run their own logistics, and all of them were asking the same thing: automation must not stop at the factory door.
Kestrel, founded in Munich in 2016 by Petra Hoffmann, had built exactly what we lacked: a software-driven fleet of warehouse robots, deployed with demanding retailers, carried by a 340-strong team that thinks in products before it thinks in machines. We did not buy a product line — we bought a team and its way of working.
Eight months, four milestones
Transaction closed
The CHF 120 million acquisition completes three weeks after announcement. Kestrel keeps its Munich site and Petra Hoffmann takes global charge of warehouse robotics.
Product roadmaps merged
The engineering teams align both software platforms on a single architecture — a decision made in six weeks, not six quarters.
First joint customer shipment
A Swiss pharmaceutical distributor commissions the first installation combining Vertex Industries conveyor systems with Kestrel’s mobile fleet — sold by a single commercial team.
Integration complete
Systems, brands and organisation consolidated eight months after closing. The Kestrel product line becomes “Vertex Flow” — and none of the 48 key engineers identified at signing has left the company.
The acquisition in numbers
I sold my company, not my team and not my mission. A year on, we ship more robots than I ever dreamt of as a start-up — with the same people, in the same building in Munich.
What changed its name — and what did not
In October 2025 the Kestrel product line became “Vertex Flow”. Everything else stayed: the Munich site, the team rituals, the Friday product review. That deliberate restraint explains a number we are prouder of than any synergy: zero regretted departures among the 48 key engineers.
The market validated the approach faster than planned. By year end, Vertex Flow was deployed or on order in 90 existing Vertex Industries accounts — customers who already knew our service and had been waiting for precisely this extension.