Parisian startup Inbolt bolts on €3 million to make tools really smart

French industrial tech startup Inbolt has raised €3 million in a Seed financing round. The company is using a combination of AI and 3D vision to generate a digital twin that can be used in any type of manufacturing operation. The funding is slated to propel the company forward on the market expansion and product development fronts, as well as drive a recruitment campaign.

With applications across just about any field of manufacturing including automotive, aerospace, rail, and oil and gas, the goal of Inbolt’s solution is to dramatically reduce, if not eliminate completely, industrial accidents and catastrophes.

One look at Tesla’s steady stream of recalls being issued citing any number of quality control issues is exactly the type of costly reworks that Inbolt lays claim to prevent.

Now tightening a bolt down (if it’s even applied)  should be the most basic of tasks for assembly workers, but when there are 285,578 bolts to be fastened in a day (this is not an exact figure), making sure each and every one is torqued to the right tension might pass by a busy worker's hands. However, that one bolt might be just the bolt that can not, and should not be bypassed.

Using AI and 3D vision technologies, Inbolt founders Rudy Cohen, Albane Dersy, and Louis Dumas have developed a tracking device that can be attached to any tool, manual or robotic, that provides a digital twin of the parts to be assembled, and can guide workers to a job well done. A good, or bad job, that thanks to Inbolt is also traceable.

“Sometimes a quarter turn is what makes or breaks a product. Real-time feedback allows users to ensure the quality of their operations and to manufacture products exactly as intended. It is time for tools to get smarter and to better support the workforce,” explained CEO Rudy Cohen.

While Elon and Co. might be plagued with quality control issues, Inbolt counts Airbus Helicopters, Thales Alenia Space, ArianeGroup and Stellantis, the new merger of the PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles amongst its client base.

"Inbolt provides an essential brick for the digital continuity of assembly operations" - Robert Ré, Project Manager at Airbus Helicopters

Inbolt’s €3 million Seed round was led by BioNTech deeptech investor MIG Capital and saw participation from existing investor SOSV, alongside new investors BNP Paribas Développement, as well as individual investors including Laurent Dassault, co-managing director of Dassault Group, which includes aerospace and automotive activities, and serial industrial sector CEO and Deeptech Labs fellow Richard Green.

“Inbolt's unique next generation solution has been developed in close cooperation with leading manufacturers, and fulfills the promise of productivity that customers are looking for. The company’s ambitious team has engaged an impressive set of investors and advisors that I am delighted to play a small part of,” commented Green.