Holy Technologies has raised €4.3 million to launch the world's first autonomous factory for lightweight components, which are essential for reducing fuel consumption, increasing range, and enhancing efficiency in various industries. Powered by AI and robotics, the Hamburg-based facility enables manufacturers to build better components faster and on an industrial scale, while restoring competitiveness.
Holy Technologies was founded by Bosse Rothe Frossard (CEO) and Moritz Reiners (CTO), who combine deep experience in venture building and composite engineering.
Bosse is a serial entrepreneur who previously co-founded a software company in the recycling industry and helped scale multiple technology ventures.
Moritz spent over a decade at Airbus, where he led automation and industrialisation efforts for advanced composite systems. I spoke to CEO and co-founder Rothe Frossard to learn more.
Holy Technologies unveils ‘Holy OS’ to automate composite manufacturing
Autonomy enables manufacturers to adapt faster, reduce complexity, and build products that outperform on weight, strength, and sustainability. Yet the materials that make this possible – composites – remain slow and costly to produce. Today, the vast majority of components are made with manual processes. Holy Technologies is solving that.
According to Frossard, from the start, the company focused on two principles: building a production system that is fit for autonomy, and designing for recyclability.
"We believe the next big transformation in industrial manufacturing will be autonomous robotics, and we wanted to create a system that could evolve toward that.
At the same time, composites have a huge recycling problem, so we designed our process so that parts can be reused rather than destroyed at the end of life."
Holy Technologies' platform automates the production of lightweight components through an AI-led robotic system with built-in closed-loop recycling. The latter enables full material recovery at the end of life for reuse in equivalent applications. Holy Technologies' tech stack uses standardised robots programmed through our proprietary software layer — "what we call the 'Holy OS," shared Frossard.
"The innovation lies in our fibre placement process (IFP), where continuous fibres are precisely placed around pins. Because the intelligence is in the software, the system improves with every component built. Engineers provide feedback, and the robots continuously get better — which is how we progress toward autonomy."
Lighter, stronger, and scalable composites
Since its founding in 2022, Holy Technologies has built a fully operational pilot line, secured offtake agreements for thousands of components, and partnered with leading OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers.
Composites already make up more than 50 per cent of modern aircraft interiors, and we're working with sectors such as orthopaedics (prosthetics), automotive (mainly premium cars), and energy (hydrogen tanks, batteries, wind turbine blades). It's a highly horizontal material — lightweight, strong, and increasingly in demand.
According to Frossard, "the main value we deliver is weight reduction."
"Compared to traditional composites, we can reduce weight by 20–30 per cent. For example, we worked with a Formula One team and achieved a 20 per cent weight reduction on parts that were already highly optimised.
Against metals, the reduction is even greater: usually 70–80 per cent lighter for the same stiffness and performance."
Automation as Europe’s competitive advantage to Asian composite manufacturing
Frossard asserts that automotive and industrial tooling are strong sectors, and in Europe, many companies are under pressure from Asian manufacturers.
"We give them a way to differentiate — for example, making existing parts 50 per cent lighter, which creates tangible value for their customers. Some customers have in-house production in Europe, while others already manufacture in China."
We've had cases where clients considered both China and us, and chose to go with both before ultimately favouring us. The key issue is that composites are still very labour-intensive, and Europe has a shortage of skilled workers. That makes automation the only viable way to keep local production competitive," shared Frossard.
"In many cases, we're not just competing on composite expertise, but also introducing companies to composites for the first time.
On cost, we're already competitive with Asian manufacturers, particularly in serial production. Since composite manufacturing is still very manual, a lot of production today is outsourced to China. Our process allows European companies to compete while keeping production local."
Unlocking true circularity in industrial manufacturing
And in terms of sustainability, traditional processes damage fibres during manufacturing, so at the end of life, parts can only be shredded. Frossard explained that the Holy Technologies process keeps fibres continuous — one long fibre from start to finish.
"That allows us to remove the resin at the end of life and reuse the fibres. In our tests, we've retained 97–98 per cent of the carbon fibre's integrity for reuse in the same application. But you have to design for that from the beginning." "The race to restore Europe's industrial edge is on," Frossard.
"The race to restore Europe's industrial edge is on," said Frossard, CEO and co-founder.
"This funding helps us scale our system to deliver what our customers need most: radically better components, at the highest speed."
Backers include Rockstart, Vanagon, SANDS, Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg and EIT Manufacturing alongside notable angel investors, including Adrian Locher (Merantix AG), Matthias Dantone (Ellipsis Ventures), Christian Vollmann (C1), Markus Kerkhoff (Poppe+Potthoff), Kai Müller (PowerCo), Timm Moll (Moll Gruppe) and several others.
According to Gem Kua, Investment Manager, Rockstart, in industries where cost, materials, speed, and quality define competitiveness, Holy Technologies is changing the game:
"Their platform enables lightweight components at scale, with applications from aerospace to energy. Since our first investment, we have been impressed by the team's rapid progress and ability to turn cutting-edge tech into real industrial impact. We are excited to double down as Holy sets a new standard for manufacturing."
"Holy Technologies' approach is a paradigm shift: They are building the AI-driven future of manufacturing. Holy's operating system transforms standard hardware into highly scalable, flexible autonomous production lines–cost-competitive with overseas production, while delivering higher product performance and enabling full material circularity. Such innovations are vital for Europe's long-term competitiveness," shared Susanne Fromm, General Partner, Vanagon Ventures.
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