FBR Ltd Secures $300K Director Loan for Mantis Welding Robot
FBR secures $300,000 director loan to advance Mantis™ welding robot
Robotics technology company FBR Limited (ASX:FBR; OTCID:FBRKF) has entered into a loan agreement with Director Lindsay Partridge for $300,000 in funding. The arrangement was provided on arm’s length terms and offers a non-dilutive funding mechanism to support completion of the company’s first Mantis™ welding robot.
The announcement was authorised for release to the ASX by the FBR Board of Directors.
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Inside the loan terms
The related-party loan carries a defined repayment schedule and is secured against specific company assets. The material terms are set out below.
| Term | Detail |
|---|---|
| Principal | $300,000 |
| Interest Rate | 2.5% per week, payable in cash monthly in arrears |
| Repayment Date | 30 September 2026, or such later date as the Company and the lender agree |
| Security | Specific non-core plant and equipment assets of the Company with an aggregate value approximate to the Principal amount |
The lender, Lindsay Partridge, is a Director of FBR, and the funding forms part of the company’s broader funding strategy.
Why Mantis™ matters to the FBR story
The loan is directed towards completing FBR’s first Mantis™ unit, a product that broadens the company’s robotics footprint. Mantis™ is described as an AI-enabled welding robot with significantly greater reach than any other welding robot on the market, according to FBR, allowing it to complete large-scale welding tasks autonomously.
Mantis™ is FBR’s second DST®-powered product after Hadrian®, drawing on the company’s core Dynamic Stabilisation Technology® (DST®). Management has framed the completion of Mantis™ and delivery of the first unit to its US purchaser as a significant milestone that would signal the commercial arrival of the product.
The US purchaser referenced in the loan announcement is State Machinery, a Louisiana heavy equipment dealer, with the first commercial Mantis sale valued at $990,000 and structured around milestone-based payments tied to H2 CY26 delivery.
Target markets for Mantis™
Once the first unit is available for demonstrations, FBR intends to introduce Mantis™ to several industrial end-markets:
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Defence
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Shipbuilding
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Heavy fabrication and large-scale metal fabrication
These represent sizeable industrial sectors that would extend FBR’s commercial reach beyond bricklaying, broadening the company’s potential customer base across multiple product lines.
CEO frames the funding as support for a key milestone
CEO Mark Pivac connected the loan directly to FBR’s strategy of avoiding shareholder dilution while progressing Mantis™ towards completion.
Mark Pivac, CEO
“We are very pleased that Lindsay has provided a loan on arm’s length terms to FBR and thank him for his support as part of our funding strategy. This loan offers a non-dilutive funding mechanism to the Company as we work towards completing the first of our Mantis™ welding robots.”
Pivac also referenced recently released Mantis™ progress videos available on the FBR website.
What’s next for FBR
The announcement points to a series of near-term catalysts tied to both Mantis™ and Hadrian®:
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Completion of the first Mantis™ welding robot
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Delivery of the first Mantis™ unit to its US purchaser
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Demonstrations to the defence, shipbuilding and heavy fabrication industries
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Imminent deployment of Hadrian® units to job sites to complete Wall as a Service® work for builders
The Hadrian deployment referenced for near-term job sites is backed by contracted volumes, with FBR’s first binding domestic Wall as a Service® work agreement for 2026 committing 5,400 square metres of construction to Victorian modular builder AMOVEO across a 24-month period.
The loan repayment date of 30 September 2026 serves as a near-term financial marker for investors monitoring the company’s funding arrangements.
Together, these milestones indicate FBR is moving towards commercialising a second product line while continuing to scale its Hadrian® bricklaying operations.
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A quick look at FBR Limited
FBR Limited designs, develops and builds dynamically stabilised robots intended to address global needs in a safer, more efficient and more sustainable way, using its core Dynamic Stabilisation Technology® (DST®).
Applications of DST® include three distinct products:
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Hadrian® — a bricklaying robot delivering Wall as a Service®
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Mantis™ — a high deposition welding robot for large-scale metal fabrication industries such as mining, shipbuilding and defence manufacture
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Firehawk™ — an autonomous refractory lining robot for ladles used in steel production
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