As part of our advisory activities at Mind the Bridge, we are continuously looking for the most innovative startups around the world that fit the verticals we are focusing on.
One of them is Industry 4.0. Not only because it is a hot topic, but also because of the potential high gain and benefits it can bring to our clients and stakeholders.
According to Markets And Markets, the Industry 4.0 market will grow at a CAGR of 16.9% from 2019 to 2024 and is expected to reach USD 156.6 billion by 2024.
At this point you might say: “wait a minute, what about the impact of the COVID 19?” We believe that the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies will accelerate as it will allow manufacturers to overcome the crisis we are going through.
The Industry 4.0 benefits include for manufacturers more flexibility with regards to the demand, real-time visibility of their supply chain, and better human resources planning.
We can also note that technologies such as Autonomous Ground Vehicles, Co-bots, and AR/VR could be key to relaunch the production without putting the workers at risk.
You will find below our short selection of the most interesting European startups active in the Industry 4.0 field, with technologies ranging from Predictive Maintenance to Computer vision or Mixed Reality.
We have chosen them based on the innovation of their technologies, their traction, their business model, and feedback from our clients when they met with them.
The Condition Monitoring Company
HQ: Germany
Founded: 2017
Funding: Undisclosed
iNDTact builds complete solutions for fault monitoring, analysis and optimization through vibration sensors. With the company’s highly-sensitive, broadband vibration sensors and sensor systems, iNDTact makes products, equipment, and processes feel.
What’s the value
The hardware is coupled with software to capture, collect the data, and process the raw information to identify, predict, and avoid failures in industrial machinery and infrastructure. They have active use cases in Manufacturing, Construction, Automotive, Aviation, Energy, and Medical fields.
Worth mentioning:
- Working with clients such as ZF, Airbus, EBM-Papst and Bosch Rexroth.
- Plug and Play startup, and participated in the 2018 German Accelerator South Asia batch.
Visual Inspection for Quality Assurance
HQ: Austria
Founded: 2017
Funding: Series A
The MoonVision focused on transferring expert know-how to AI using visual information. MoonVision detects item type and amounts on a visual basis using proprietary computer vision algorithms and triggers events, like the optimization of machines, payment processes, or data generation.
What’s the value
The Moonvision software specializes in quality control and assurance of assembly products and surfaces.
All data (image and video) are collected and processed via a visual data lake using Deep Learning to ensure a continuous learning process and continuous improvement in quality control. Since their technology is coordinated with the latest AI technology, the potential of their software includes an exponentially increasing learning capability and enables our model training to be the best possible Few-Shot object recognition on the market with minimal effort and data.
In order to localize the product-specific features, a Labeling Tool is available which can be continuously adapted to each quality characteristic and which carries out a very precise and fully automated annotation of each deviation.
Worth mentioning:
- Forbes top 30 DACH startups to watch.
- Working with clients Vodafone and Audi.
- Plug and Play startup.
Artificial Intelligence in industrial operations
Founded: 2011
Funding: Undisclosed
FieldBox.ai helps industries improve their operational efficiency thanks to artificial intelligence. The FieldBox.ai platform makes it possible to deploy AI-trained industrial bots in the heart of factories. These bots continuously and autonomously optimize processes and operate machines
What’s the value
The result of several years of R&D, the FieldBox.ai solution is a cloud-to-edge IIoT platform that manages the life cycle of these industrial bots: training, deployment, and autonomous operation. By relocating decision making in factories, and automating it with AI, FieldBox.ai reduces the costs and time required to fulfill the promises of Industry 4.0.
The FieldBox has already published over 100,000 reports and is being used by hundreds of Engineers and Operators on four continents, monitoring and analyzing over 1,000 equipment and systems with over 20 000 tags.
Worth mentioning:
- Working with clients Total, Group ADP, Alperia, SNCF.
- Participated in Thales Accelerator: Centech
- Offices in France and Singapore.
Cloud-based Software for Predictive Maintenance 4.0 (PdM 4.0)
Founded: 2014
Funding: Series A
A cloud-based machine monitoring and diagnostics tool to deliver a way to predict machine failure. The company’s predictive analytics platform automatically tracks and sends depreciation data of machinery and notifies manufacturers about machine conditions, thereby helping to reduce sudden mechanical failure, enabling manufacturers to benefit from their existing data and new connected devices to automate asset health management and predictive maintenance.
What’s the value
WIth Senseye, their clients will be able to
- improve in downtime forecasting accuracy by 85 %,
- increase in maintenance staff productivity by 55 %,
- decrease unplanned machine downtime by 50 %,
- reduce in maintenance costs by 40 %.
As a product, Senseye PdM collects data to predict the Remaining Useful Life of your machinery. There’s no need to install any additional hardware or software on-site, saving both time and money
Worth mentioning:
- Working with clients Tata Steel, Siemens, GE, Schneider Electric, Nissan
- Verdantix 2020 OPEX Innovation Award Winner, 2019 Startups 100 Top Regional Business Winner
Redefining Engineering with AR
HQ: Germany
Founded: 2015
Funding: Series A
Holo-Light develops Augmented & Mixed Reality software and hardware solutions on head-mounted displays in industrial application areas. Their solution delivers a collaborative Augmented Reality experience to improve engineering workflows as it enables engineers to visualize, manipulate, and share 3D CAD data with others in a real environment.
What’s the value
Holo-Light’s out of the box solution is already tailored to serve these use cases: Design Review, Layout planning, and Digital overlay. They make use of Microsoft HoloLens 2.0 hardware and superpowered interaction through their own piece of hardware called holo-pen which allows 1-3mm precision in the manipulation of the shapes.
Worth mentioning:
- Customers include BMW, Honda, Siemens, Nissan, Engie, Porsche, BASF
- Plug and Play startup, German Innovation Award 2018 and 2019 winner, 2018 Auggie Awards winner
Visual Intelligence Platform for Enterprise Asset Management
Founded: 2011
Funding: Series B
Delair provides drone-based solutions that enable enterprises to monitor and digitize their physical assets from the air and turn the collected data into valuable business insights. Its solutions are used globally by customers in industries such as utilities, construction, agriculture, transportation, mining, and oil and gas.
What’s the value
The company’s offerings combine high-performance UAV hardware with delair.ai, the industry’s platform to power your entire visual intelligence workflow, from data management to advanced analytics.
Worth mentioning:
- Customers include Enedis, Duke Energy, Perenco.
- Investors include Intel Capital, Parrot, Bpifrance, Andromède.
- Acquired Gatewing, Airware/Redbird.
- Delair Awarded as Technology Pioneer by World Economic Forum in 2018, 2016 Deloitte Technology awards: fifth in the Fast 50 France awards.
Final Conclusions
From our side, we will keep looking for the most interesting innovators around the globe that could support our clients leveraging Industry 4.0.
Schedule a call HERE, if you are
- a startup and interested in being a part of our next top 5 articles or interested in taking part in our activities.
- a corporation interested in Innovation!
Stay tuned on our next Scaleup Summits:
- Scaleup Summit Israel – June 24-25, 2020
- Scaleup Summit Silicon Valley – September 30 – October 1, 2020
- Scaleup Summit Europe – December 2020
*sources: Crunchbase, Pitchbook, Mind the Bridge