Christchurch company Invert Robotics, which uses robotics to change the way industrial tanks are inspected, is raising capital to expand into the European market.
The company said it was also in partnership discussions with a large European company about the use of its technology.
Invert invented a climbing robot that enabled faults in industrial tanks to be found remotely, increasing inspection accuracy and significantly reducing the risk of workplace accidents, Invert chief executive James Robertson said.
The robot used advanced sensors to monitor a tank's condition and high-definition cameras to feed detailed inspection data instantly to the operator controlling it.
The robots were being used in the New Zealand dairy industry to inspect the interior of stainless steel tanks and driers, some up to six storeys high.
The robots were attached and drove up the inside of the tanks, he said.
Traditionally, inspections had been carried out by people abseiling from ropes inside the tanks while looking for cracks with torches.
"This is a very exciting time for the company. To be sought out by this European company, who could find no equivalent technology anywhere else in the world, is a massive vote of confidence for Invert Robotics and the team that has supported and guided us,'' Mr Robertson said.
Invert had been perfecting its inspection robots while working with transtasman dairy companies over the past four years, carrying out more than 250 inspections, he said.
The next step was to expand offshore, serving the sectors the company knew before getting into other industries.
Invert was focusing on the European dairy market because of its potential, its size - at eight times New Zealand - and the high level of attention paid to health and safety.
That combined into a opportunity to make Invert robots an attractive and low-risk option for tank inspections in that market, he said.
Invert was partway through a capital-raising through crowd funding platform Equitise.
The company needed money to make its plans and the potential of its business a reality, Mr Robertson said.