London-based Ai Build, a company developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic technologies for large scale Additive Manufacturing, has raised $1M (approx €829K) in a fresh round of funding led by SuperSeed.
The term “additive manufacturing” references technologies that grow 3D objects one superfine layer at a time. Each successive layer bonds to the preceding layer of melted or partially melted material. Objects are digitally defined by computer-aided-design (CAD) software that is used to create.
Investors in the round
SuperSeed, that led the round is a London-based VC that specialises in business automation and industry 4.0 investments. Industry 4.0 is the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, and cloud computing.
In addition, the round also saw participation from William Tunstall-Pedoe, the British entrepreneur who was one of the inventors behind Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa.
Daghan Cam, co-founder & CEO of Ai Build says, “Even though 3D printing has come a long way, it is still extremely difficult to produce large, complex parts with the consistency required by the manufacturing industry. At present, parts that only take a few hours of printing time, take manufacturers weeks or months to prepare. Lack of automation is the barrier. To solve this problem, we use smart algorithms and data for maximum efficiency, reliability and scalability. We are very excited and humbled to be backed by investors who share our vision to create the factories of the future.”
Use of the funds
The company is looking to invest the funding to accelerate the commercialisation of its technology to bring it to more global tier 1 manufacturers operating in the aerospace and automotive space.
What does “Ai Build” build?
The company was founded in 2015 by Daghan Cam and Michail Desyllas, two architects with background in computational geometry and robotics. Their startup, Ai Build, is a company providing a cloud platform (AiSync) as a service to automate the labour intensive Additive Manufacturing process by autonomous robotic path planning and computer vision.
Since the launch of its software in 2020, Ai Build’s technology has been adopted by manufacturers in the automotive, aerospace and defence industries. This helps the sectors to reduce costs, material waste, and lead times on their large scale 3D printed parts such as composite tooling.
The company’s initial customers include some of the largest automotive brands and Formula 1 teams. Ai Build was also recently selected to participate in the prestigious ATI Boeing Accelerator, and has started working with GKN Aerospace and Rolls-Royce alongside Boeing.
The platform has also signed partnerships with machine manufacturers including Kuka and Weber Additive to make AiSync the default Operating System (OS) for large-scale industrial 3D printing. According to Ai Build’s customers, the solution has helped them achieve a 90 per cent reduction in labour costs and a 70 per cent reduction in failed print attempts.
Mads Jensen, Managing Partner at SuperSeed, says, “Additive Manufacturing has the potential to change how things are made, and as the technology matures, there is an ever-growing demand for automating and optimising the process.”