Newable Ventures Scale-Up Fund 3 completes Thingtrax Investment
The investment in the AI and IoT factory solutions company provides investors exposure to a fast-growing sector.
The Newable Ventures’s Fund has successfully led a £1.3m investment in Thingtrax. Newable participated alongside Superseed Ventures and angel investors.
Thingtrax is an AI and IoT smart factory solution founded in 2015 to help manufacturers transform the way their labour, processes and machinery connect. The company uses custom hardware sensors and proprietary software over a unique low-cost, low-latency mesh network to provide factory insights without the need for Wi-Fi to operate. The company’s mission is to build the autonomous factory of the future and turn the 80% of unconnected factories worldwide into smart manufacturing hubs; connecting machines, workers, and robotics to improve efficiency, increase worker safety, reduce costs and drive productivity. The global industrial automation market is projected to grow from $191.74bn in 2021 to $355.44bn in 2028 at a CAGR of 9.2%.
Thingtrax’s largest market is the plastic manufacturing industry where 70% of revenue goes on raw materials, requiring maximised operational efficiency to deliver sufficient profits and margin. At the same time, sustainability is an issue, as increased scrutiny of single-use plastics puts pressure on sales, impacting manufacturers that need to prove their environmental credentials.
Thingtrax is intending to use this fundraise to get the company to the commercial metrics viable for a Series A investment (circa £80k MRR), professionalise its sales and marketing function (including account management), and continue its product development, especially around the UI/UX (user friendly interfaces) capabilities of the technology. These developments will support the growth of an already impressive client base including RPC, which was acquired by Berry Global Group, a Fortune 500 global manufacturer and SILAFRICA, a plastic products company in Kenya.
Thingtrax CEO, Paul Reader had this to say about his company’s future;
“We are absolutely thrilled with this funding round, as it provides the company with the capital and financial runway to continue developing a high-class product for our clients. The round will also allow us to plan with confidence for a Series A round in the next year. I would like to thank Newable and our other investors for their support”.
Avantika Gupta, Newable Ventures Investment Director added, “At a time of increasing 5G wireless technology adoption, demand for automated solutions across the manufacturing industry is growing rapidly. To be able to provide exposure for investors to Thingtrax, which is at the forefront of its field, is incredibly exciting. I would like to congratulate Paul and his team on their latest fundraise, and we look forward to working closely with them in the months ahead”.
Newable Ventures is an EIS evergreen Fund that invests in 7-10 portfolio companies in the SpaceTech, MedTech and Automations sectors.
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