Underwater drone business Aquabotix have appointed a new CEO, freeing up the incumbent and technical brains behind the ASX listed underwater robotics company to focus full-time on developing the company’s innovative technology.
The board said this week it had appointed David Batista as CEO, whilst founding CEO Durval Tavares has moved into the newly created role of Chief Technology Officer.
Batista is based in the US, where a large part of the Aquabotix operations are also located. He has a 20-year track record in small-caps and most recently, he was Senior Managing Director of financial services firm Viriathus Holdings, where he was regularly involved in M&A deals for both domestic and international markets.
Aquabotix Chairman, Peter James, said: “These changes in the executive team will enable Aquabotix’s founder and outgoing CEO, Durval Tavares, a thought and technology leader in the underwater domain, to focus his considerable talents on maintaining and further developing the company’s technology.
"David adds significant leadership and capital markets experience to our executive ranks. I welcome David and am excited for the company’s future under the new leadership.”
Mr Tavares said. “I am enthused to be able to devote my time exclusively to leading the technology function of Aquabotix. There are a number of projects underway that we look forward to bringing to the market in the near term.”
The company listed on the ASX on the 28th of April 2017 and is now the only standalone, ASX listed outfit in the underwater robotics / underwater drone space.
Aquabotix have developed 3 different types of underwater drones and an underwater camera that captures and beams high quality 1080p HD colour video and still images to the surface. All are suitable for a massive array of uses in a plethora of different industries.
Mr Batista said the underwater drone market was “up for grabs in a number of industry verticals – military, security and law enforcement, energy, aquaculture, marine construction and maintenance, recreational and others.”
“Thanks to Durval’s and the team’s prior efforts, Aquabotix has the technology and the early sales lead to secure a substantial part of these emerging markets, provided that it attacks them with energy and vigour. I am excited to lead this charge.”
