OTTO is one of Waterloo Region’s most spectacular home-grown success stories. From very humble beginnings building a robotics company from scratch to their acquisition by global automation leader Rockwell Automation in 2023, the journey of this Kitchener-based company is one of persistent innovation and growth.
Matt Rendall and Ryan Gariepy, co-founders of OTTO by Rockwell Automation
We sat with Matt Rendall, CEO and co-founder, and Ryan Gariepy, CTO and co-founder, of OTTO by Rockwell Automation to hear why becoming part of a Fortune 500 company gives them a powerful boost for growth.
From talent expansion plans and staying rooted in Waterloo to seeing Canada becoming a global robotics leader in the future, here are the insights they shared:
From startup to joining Rockwell Automation
After founding Clearpath Robotics in 2009, Matt and his team were helping the world’s leading organizations across mining, military, aerospace and academia with robotics platforms for research and automation.
As the autonomous robotics industry started gaining momentum, they anticipated one of the biggest challenges that businesses, especially manufacturers, would face in the age of automation: the lack of enough skilled talent like material handlers, forklift drivers and assemblers working on factory floors.
Hence, OTTO was born in 2015 as an independent business division to meet the emerging opportunity for autonomous material handling in the industrial space. In the following years, the company experienced remarkable growth due to shifting industry needs and a global pandemic.
OTTO soon realized that the world’s largest manufacturers have an appetite that’s very difficult to meet as a small company. “We’ve always put our customers first and decided that to serve our customers at the scale and speed expected from us, we needed to partner with a bigger company,” shared Matt.
It just so happened that Rockwell Automation, a global leader in industrial automation, also identified the massive shift towards digital automation and the need to augment their portfolio.
And that’s where their paths crossed.
In October 2023, Rockwell Automation acquired OTTO Motors and Clearpath Robotics as a move towards digital transformation. This partnership was a turning point for OTTO as it continues to pave the way for future growth and innovation.
“It took us seven years to identify the market opportunity in autonomous material handling, and another seven years to build the product to the maturity point. In parallel to the market itself maturing, we had to wait 15 years before we were at the intersection of product readiness and market readiness. The trajectory that we’re on right now is just so incredible. It’s never, never been as attractive as it is right now,” remarked Matt.
OTTO taps into top talent in Waterloo
On this new growth trajectory with Rockwell by their side, Matt and his team are ready and excited to tap into the region’s exceptional talent pool. “Startups are not for everyone and so a meaningful percentage of the talent pool would self-select out of working for a startup. But now as part of a Fortune 500 company, there’s a brand-new talent pool available to us, and we haven’t even moved!” shared Matt.
Recognizing that Waterloo is North America’s best small tech talent market, OTTO’s decision to hire from within the region is a no-brainer. “From a talent density perspective, Waterloo’s talent is among the best in Canada,” shared Matt.
Since its beginning, the company has relied heavily on attracting talent from the University of Waterloo, one of the region’s three post-secondary institutions. “We hire so many co-op students out of the university. It’s such an important part of our long-term talent strategy. The consistently reliable talent that comes out of the university is clearly a notch above the rest.”
Matt, Ryan and team have begun their hiring spree, recently posting a variety of new roles on their website. The company is looking to hire for multiple roles across the board from engineering and design to manufacturing, operations, professional services and sales and marketing.
“We need to build robots; we need to design robots; and we need to market robots. We’re really looking to hire for a lot of these skills in the region,” added Ryan.
" Anybody considering coming to the region should know that the University of Waterloo is a critical ingredient in the ecosystem. It’s the talent and entrepreneur factory. "
Matt Rendall
CEO and Cofounder OTTO by Rockwell Automation
OTTO stays connected to Waterloo
There’s a synergy between OTTO’s growth plans and the Waterloo ecosystem. As the company matured, the question of relocating to somewhere else popped up more than once. But OTTO continued to choose Waterloo as its base because of the undeniably strong tech and manufacturing ecosystem, market proximity and, of course, high-quality talent.
“What’s unique about Waterloo is the combination of one of the best technical institutes, the heritage of blue-collar manufacturing that leads to an ability to do advanced automation and the full skillset required to deliver technology into industry,” shared Matt.
Waterloo’s location advantage is enhanced by the proximity to customers and markets. “The vast majority of our customer base is in the United States, particularly the midwest. There’s such a rich heritage of manufacturing in southwestern Ontario and midwestern US. It’s so easy for us to just drive down the 401 and hit Detroit and be in automotive mecca.”
Waterloo’s value proposition is also reinforced by the region’s culture which blends innovation with prudence where it’s needed.
“Waterloo has this really great balance between aggressive nature of Silicon Valley to always move on to the next thing, while still bringing the degree of conservatism that’s needed when you’re working in industries where failure is not an option,” added Ryan. “This unique culture creates an ideal setting for industries where the stakes are high.”
Luckily for OTTO, Rockwell Automation has already built a strong presence in the region, making this partnership a winning formula for both parties. “Rockwell’s been operating its manufacturing operations in Cambridge, Ontario for decades. So, it’s not just us who have realized that this is the right place to do manufacturing,” commented Matt.
A promising and autonomous future
OTTO’s leaders see the acquisition as a defining moment for their business. With Rockwell’s global customer base and 120+ years’ experience and automation leadership, OTTO can rely on Rockwell’s market leadership while focusing on innovating and developing better products for its customers.
“There’s a lot of people in OTTO who are able to rely on the broader Rockwell team to take care of all these things we didn’t even know we didn’t know – and focus much more on the customer, technology and the product,” said Ryan.
Being part of Rockwell, OTTO sees itself in a very good position to witness and contribute to the growth of our robotics ecosystem. “I’m very confident that over the next 10 or 20 years, robotics as an industry will be much more dominant. And I think Canada and specifically Waterloo has an opportunity to play a leadership role,” said Matt.
“We certainly have the best talent. We have the entrepreneurship factory (that’s University of Waterloo), and we have the nucleus of robotics companies in the region. I’d like to say it’s ours to lose.”
As OTTO and Rockwell forge their path to innovation, we can’t be prouder of Waterloo’s potential for producing world-class successes. We can help you become the next success story with complimentary resources and support for finding talent, a location and more.