ReActive Robotics and the EIC Accelerator: An ICU Robot Goes Bust

ReActive Robotics, founded in Munich in 2015, built VEMOTION, a robot attached to a hospital bed that raises patients upright and moves their legs so that people in intensive care can start mobilising early. It received CE marking in 2019 and has been used in hospitals since 2020, according to its investor Bayern Kapital. The EIC project said early mobilisation is performed for only 25% of ICU patients and that VEMOTION would speed recovery by 20% and increase ICU capacity by 27%, according to CORDIS.

The European Innovation Council granted €2,490,338 towards a €3.56 million project from January 2023 to December 2024, planned alongside "€15M equity", for "crucial product development and large-scale clinical trials". The first-year report lists certification for bariatric patients, a one-size-fits-all leg adapter already on the market, and prototypes of a new control system, bed platform and user interface; it describes one small clinical trial being prepared and a second in planning. In September 2024 the EIC Fund and private investors put €5 million into the company. In February 2025 ReActive Robotics was insolvent, deutsche-startups.de reported.

What Happened to ReActive Robotics

Max Liebig was appointed preliminary insolvency administrator, and "the background to the insolvency is not yet known", deutsche-startups.de wrote, adding that more than €10 million had gone into the robot from investors including Bayern Kapital and High-Tech Gründerfonds, and that the company was profitable in 2022. The Munich register recorded the company as in liquidation in May 2025, according to North Data. Its website did not load when checked in September 2026. No buyer for VEMOTION has been announced.

The Technology: Robotic Early Mobilisation

VEMOTION lets patients stay in their own bed while it gradually verticalises them and moves their legs. The report says the second-generation work aimed to improve usability, add AI and data features and lower production costs, and that the new leg adapter replaced the size-specific adapters of the first-generation system. The 20% and 27% benefit figures in the project summary are the company's own and are not tied to a published trial in the report.

What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows

The engineering work of the first year is documented. The "large-scale clinical trials" are not: by the end of 2023 one small trial had a signed contract and a second was being planned, and CORDIS has no later report. The project closed in December 2024 and the company was insolvent within two months. CORDIS lists the project as closed.

1. Second-generation featuresPrototypesControl, bed, interface.
2. Bariatric certificationDeliveredPer first report.
3. Large-scale clinical trialsNot shownOne small trial prepared.
4. Scale-upFailedInsolvent, February 2025.

The Money

The EIC plan paired the grant with €15 million of equity; the round that closed in September 2024 raised €5 million. The company's share capital more than doubled in 2024, according to register publications. Its last accounts listed by North Data are for 2022, and its revenue and losses are not freely available. What the EIC Fund invested, and what it and other creditors will recover, is not public.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

The EIC backed a certified European medical robot that was already in hospitals. Its fund then invested public money months before the company collapsed, which raises questions about how the EIC Fund judges follow-on investments.

The Verdict

ReActive Robotics' insolvency administrator and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.