- Robert Bosch Venture Capital joins investors Greenspring Associates, Dell Technologies Capital, BMW iVentures, Foundry Group and Highland Capital Partners
- Xometry utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to generate instant pricing, lead times and design for manufacturing feedback for custom parts
- RBVC Managing Director Dr. Ingo Ramesohl: “Xometry’s platform offers limitless capacity and matches jobs with the optimal supplier based on capabilities and past performance. This is of high relevance for companies like Bosch.”
Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC), the corporate venture capital company of the Bosch Group, joins a USD 55m growth financing round in Xometry. The Gaithersburg, Maryland (United States) based company currently has 250 employees and is on track to generate around USD 100M in revenue this year. With this latest round of funding, Xometry is now eyeing expansion into the European geography. “Xometry’s instant quoting engine helps drive efficiency by leveraging AI algorithms to instantly generate a price, lead time, and manufacturability feedback” says RBVC Managing Director Dr. Ingo Ramesohl.
Xometry Instant Quoting Engine
The traditional quoting process for custom parts is a manual and labor intensive endeavor. Specialized quoting personnel work with manufacturing experts and schedulers to develop an accurate estimation of raw material costs, labor requirements, lead times, etc… With the Xometry instant quoting engine, customers can upload their 3D CAD files to the company’s website with simple drag and drop functionality, or order directly from Solidworks or Autodesk design software via Xometry plugins. The part geometries and properties are automatically analyzed and information on cost, lead time and manufacturability are shown. Customers can dynamically tweak the manufacturing process used, raw material, color, tolerances, required certifications and part finish via drop down menus to immediately understand the effect on price and lead time. These parameters can all be fine-tuned so that the customer can optimize for the variable that is most critical to them. Once satisfied, there is a one-click order process without the need to wait for quotes coming back from multiple suppliers.
Launch of Xometry-Supplies and Expansion into Europe
Xometry recently launched the Xometry Supplies initiative. Xometry will help its manufacturing partners simplify their supply chain by providing relevant materials, tools and industrial supplies when they accept jobs. With deep insights on the specific raw material and tooling required to complete each job, Xometry can aggregate demand across its thousands of manufacturing partners and offer these supplies at discounted rates.
Xometry has built up a market leading portfolio of +3,000 manufacturing partners in the United States. Now, with the most recent round of funding, they are turning an eye toward European expansion. “We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with a world class manufacturing brand like Bosch” said Randy Altschuler, co-founder and CEO of Xometry. “Global expansion is one of our key upcoming initiatives and we look forward to leveraging Bosch’s deep manufacturing expertise as we launch in Europe.”
Modernizing a Fragmented Market
There are currently around 30,000 custom manufacturers in the United States alone. Many of these businesses are small, family owned machine shops that lack the resources needed to supply to large organizations such as Bosch. Additionally, they do not have the excess time required to prepare detailed quotes for every project that comes through the door which may, or may not result in them winning the business. These small establishments also lack purchasing power that large organizations enjoy due to their relatively small volume. Xometry’s platform helps small manufacturers address all of these issues, and enables them to operate in a more efficient manner.
The custom manufacturing market in the US represents around USD 57b in annual spend. This figure encompasses processes such as milling and turning, injection molding, 3D printing, sheet metal work and die casting. This market is expected to continue to expand as industry drivers such as shorter product development cycles, increased product personalization/customization and emerging additive manufacturing techniques continue to evolve.
About RBVC GmbH
Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC) is the corporate venture capital company of the Bosch Group, a leading global supplier of technology and services. RBVC invests worldwide in innovative start-up companies at all stages of their development. Its investment activities focus on technology companies working in areas of business of current and future relevance for Bosch, above all, automation and electrification, energy efficiency, enabling technologies, and healthcare systems. RBVC also invests in services and business models as well as new materials that are relevant to the above-mentioned areas of business.
FOr more information, visit www.rbvc.com.
About Xometry
Xometry is the largest marketplace for custom manufacturing, connecting customers with optimal manufacturing solutions through proprietary AI algorithms. Xometry provides on-demand manufacturing and industrial supply materials to a diverse customer base, ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies. Our nationwide network of over 3,000 partner manufacturing facilities enables us to maintain consistently fast lead times while offering a broad array of capabilities, including CNC Machining, 3D Printing, Sheet Metal Fabrication, Injection Molding, Die Casting, Stamping, Extrusion, and Urethane Casting. Xometry’s customers include BMW, Bosch, Dell Technologies, General Electric and NASA.
For more information, visit www.xometry.com.
About The Bosch Group
The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 410,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2018). The company generated sales of 78.5 billion euros in 2018. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT company, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, smart cities, connected mobility, and connected manufacturing. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to deliver innovations for a connected life. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.” The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 460 subsidiary and regional companies in over 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. At nearly 130 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 68,700 associates in research and development.
For more information, visit www.bosch.com | www.iot.bosch.com | www.bosch-press.com or connect on Twitter.
