AMDB Security Pro raises €2.68M Seed to take France's first mechanical excavator lock to the US

AMDB Security Pro (Lyon) has raised €2.68 million / $3.1 million in a Seed round from two unnamed American private investors. Founded in 2023 by Pascal Oltra and Kevin Kaarouche, the company builds the first made-in-France mechanical anti-theft system for excavators and mini-excavators: a patented, tamper-resistant device made from hardened boron steel that physically blocks ignition, paired with a 120 dB alarm, a GPS tracker, and a concealed key compartment. The lock mechanism is purely mechanical — no electronics in the lock itself — and is compatible with over 100 brands of mini-excavators and construction equipment. The company won a Gold Medal at the Concours Lépine 2025 for the universal anti-theft system.

Why mechanical rather than digital

The positioning is deliberate. Most solutions currently on the market are tracking and recovery tools: they find a stolen machine after the fact. AMDB's approach is upstream — the device prevents the machine from starting without the correct key, using construction-grade materials designed to resist sawing, bolt-cutter attacks, and twisting. The logic is that a machine which cannot be moved cannot be stolen, and that the GPS inside the device is a secondary layer, not the primary one.

The US market is the stated destination. The numbers the company cites are from the National Equipment Register and the National Insurance Crime Bureau: between $300 million and $1 billion in annual equipment theft losses, more than 11,000 thefts per year (roughly 1,000 machines per month), an average loss of $30,000 per incident, and a recovery rate below 25%. American rental companies, insurers, and equipment manufacturers are the target buyers — and the investors being American and private rather than French institutional suggests they may come from that very ecosystem.

The US expansion plan

The Seed proceeds will fund four things: a US subsidiary, first local hires, commercial structuring with rental companies and insurers, and continued R&D into equipment categories beyond excavators. AMDB has set a target of large-scale US deployment by 2027. The company will continue serving European operators in parallel.

The 18-month test is whether a hardware company with 100-brand compatibility, a proven design, and a meaningful European prize can build commercial scale in America before it runs out of the €2.68 million. Channel is the constraint: large US rental operators are concentrated (United Rentals, Sunbelt, and a handful of nationals dominate), and entering their approved-equipment lists requires local relationships and local presence. The unnamed American investors, if they provide that introduction, may be the more valuable part of the round than the capital itself.