Investment group Rockaway Capital, in cooperation with industrial holding MTX Group, is launching the fund for qualified investors RockawayQ Digital Industry Holding SICAV, a. s. (“RockawayQ”), into which it is contributing an existing portfolio of companies and capital. The fund focuses on investments in technologies transforming manufacturing and industry in Czechia and across Europe. In the coming years, RockawayQ aims to raise more than CZK 2 billion in new capital for investments in areas such as AI, robotics, industrial software and factory automation, with initial capital accounting for more than half a billion crowns.
As pressure grows on the productivity and digitalization of European industry, major opportunities are emerging for companies that enable this technological transformation. RockawayQ is a specialized investment fund that responds to this trend by combining capital and investment expertise with the ability to actually implement technologies in industrial environments. It is intended for qualified and institutional investors, as well as industrial groups that, in addition to financial returns, are seeking access to innovation and know-how for transforming their own operations.
Access to a portfolio of leading companies and deep industrial expertise
The fund’s portfolio combines two types of investments. The first are private equity investments in established and profitable technology companies providing solutions for the modernization of industrial businesses, primarily in the DACH region — Germany, Austria and Switzerland — and the broader European market. The second pillar consists of opportunities with a higher risk profile, including growth capital for fast-growing companies, mainly in the fields of AI and autonomous robotics.
“We see an enormous internal debt in digitalization and automation across European industry, but at the same time also the potential for significant investment opportunities over the next decade. RockawayQ connects the world of technology with the real environment of factories. We can effectively implement innovations in large, established operations and verify directly in practice that they truly work. Our fund appeals primarily to investors who want to actively participate in transformation themselves. It is not enough for us that a technology looks good on paper. For us, what matters is that it genuinely works in companies and helps them achieve better results,” says Michal Šmída, Partner at RockawayQ.
Technologies with measurable results that are changing factories
The launch of the fund was preceded by an analysis of more than 300 technology companies in Europe and completed investments in three companies that rank among the leading players in the modernization of manufacturing. RockawayQ plans to contribute these first investments to the fund and announce two further transactions in the coming months.
Each of them covers a different layer of industrial transformation. Germany’s RockQ Technologies, formerly NC Vision, helps manufacturing companies rapidly digitalize and automate production and connect its management with high-quality data through its native AI no-code platform. FLO acts as an industrial architect: it designs the digital transformation of plants and oversees its implementation in practice. A global dimension is brought by the U.S. humanoid robotics manufacturer Apptronik, backed by investors such as Google and Mercedes Ventures. Humanoid robotics represents a promising long-term direction, particularly in environments facing labor shortages and a high share of repetitive tasks. Looking ahead, the fund plans to close two to four new investments per year and continuously expand its existing portfolio through mergers and acquisitions.
Rather than merely investing, the platform seeks to build close partnerships with manufacturing companies in their transformation — from defining strategy to implementing specific solutions that make use of technologies from its own portfolio. RockawayQ is also open to cooperation with traditional private equity investors, where it is prepared to help drive the digital transformation of their portfolio companies alongside them.
“Funds under the Rockaway Capital group have long invested in sectors undergoing fundamental transformation. With RockawayQ, we are targeting industrial technologies. European industry currently spends tens of billions of euros per year on automation and digitalization, but most companies are still uncertain about where to begin and how to actually implement technologies. Additional capital will allow us to further expand this portfolio and strengthen our role as a transformation partner for industrial companies,” adds Michal Šmída.
Evergreen structure, strategic partnership and benefits for investors
Unlike traditional closed-end funds, RockawayQ has chosen an evergreen structure. This open-ended model allows capital to be invested continuously according to current opportunities. At the same time, investors have the option to partially or fully redeem their investment at regular intervals. As a result, there are no forced sales at the end of the fund’s life, and investors can hold their stakes in the best-performing companies over the long term. The fund builds on the strong background of Rockaway Capital, which manages assets worth nearly EUR 2 billion, and the industrial strength of MTX Group.
“At Rockaway, we have always tried to stay one step ahead and invest in innovative and timeless technologies. With the arrival of advanced artificial intelligence, we are now facing a revolution similar to the advent of the internet — but with one fundamental difference. This time, technology is changing the physical world directly and transforming the shape of industry. It is precisely in this connection between the ‘old and new’ worlds that I see the greatest opportunity for European manufacturing to regain its global confidence and competitiveness,” says Jakub Havrlant, founder and CEO of Rockaway Capital.
The investment process involves an experienced international advisory board and MTX Group, which, together with the RockawayQ investment team, help assess the technological and commercial readiness of each investment. MTX also serves as a real-world testing environment where the technologies of portfolio companies can be verified and deployed directly across 39 manufacturing plants with revenues of more than EUR 2.3 billion.
“Our partnership with RockawayQ is helping us transform the entire MTX Group using data and artificial intelligence. We are already seeing concrete results, for example at Alinvest, where the deployment of AI models for quality control helped us reduce the defect rate by 40%. Together with the FLO team, we are now preparing a digital strategy for all 39 of our plants with a horizon to 2030. We want automation of routine tasks to free people’s hands and enable us to manage the holding based on accurate real-time data,” explains Petr Otava, owner of MTX Group.
RockawayQ is building a leading European investment platform connecting capital, AI and industrial expertise, with the aim of helping European manufacturers succeed in the new era of automation and artificial intelligence. The fund is managed by investment company AMISTA, which is supervised by the Czech National Bank, and is intended for strategic investors. Together with its portfolio of invested technology companies, RockawayQ brings them a unique combination of investment capital, industrial know-how and the ability to implement transformation projects in practice.