Laserhub closes Series B to expand its leadership in Europe
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Acton Capital Press
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June 14, 2022
Stuttgart, June 9, 2022 – Laserhub, vertically integrated procurement platform for custom metal parts, today announces the successful completion of its Series B financing round – two years after the closing of its Series A led by Acton Capital in June 2020. The current round is led by Finnish VC Evli Growth Partners, with participation from existing investors Project A, Point Nine and Acton Capital as well as new investors Schenker Ventures, Fuse Venture Partners and FJ Labs. With the fresh capital, Laserhub will implement new processing technologies and expand into new markets in Europe.
Stuttgart-based Laserhub was founded in 2017 to disrupt the procurement process for custom metal parts in the manufacturing industry. The automated platform covers orders for laser cutting, bending, tube laser cutting and CNC turning. Its algorithm links the specifications of the customers with the resources of the producers from the Laserhub network. The allocation of orders takes place without loss of time. In addition to the gain in efficiency, which is particularly significant for medium-sized companies compared to traditional processes, customers benefit from low unit prices and competitive delivery times.
Ari Korhonen from Laserhub’s new investor Evli Growth Partners: “We were drawn to Laserhub by several factors. It‘s just impressive to see how well the team managed to keep the company growing despite obstacles related to COVID and supply chain issues over the past two years. Even now, major problems in the supply chains are leading to inflation which many industries struggle with. With all their challenges, the company and its founders have shown great resilience. When you combine that resilience with a big market and a proven product, you have the potential for something big.”
“This team has the possibility to become a market leader in a multi-billion euro market.” -- Ari Korhonen, Evli Growth Partners
Adrian Raidt, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Laserhub: “This funding round gives us the opportunity to invest heavily in our online platform to help make our supply chain even more resilient and to further increase cost efficiency. This is exactly what our customers need in the current market environment in order to be crisis-proof.” “Their business model is one of the rare examples where digitization offers clear advantages in a long-established industry by creating a win-win situation for everyone involved,” adds Fritz Oidtmann, Managing Partner, Acton Capital.
“As a key driver of digital transformation, Laserhub bridges the gap between startup innovations and the classic manufacturing industry in Europe.” -- Fritz Oidtmann, Acton Capital
International growth despite a challenging market environment: These advantages have enabled Laserhub to grow rapidly in a market that has struggled with supply chain disruptions, particularly in recent years. The trigger for this is the combination of the Corona crisis, an acute shortage of skilled workers and the Ukraine war. These economic effects were successfully defied thanks to Laserhub‘s digital business model. More than 7,500 companies from Europe’s manufacturing industry are now using the Laserhub solution. Many of them now handle the bread and butter of their parts purchases via the online platform.
The company from Stuttgart will use the fresh capital to expand its market leadership in Europe. Annual sales exceeding 100 million euros are expected already in 2023. This will happen through the expansion of capacities in existing technologies, which will be further optimized to the needs of industrial medium-sized companies. Additionally, new processing technologies such as welding are just being implemented. In the future, companies will not only be able to procure individual parts but entire assemblies via Laserhub. Managing Director and co-founder Christoph Rößner: “Our customers already range from small workshops to large international corporations. In the future, we will provide each of these customer segments with the best procurement process for their own needs.” In addition to Germany, Laserhub is currently active in France, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg. Laserhub will also expand into other European markets in the coming months while also further developing its platform.
Laserhub’s co-founder Christoph Rößner: “With every update of our platform, we offer even more reasons why medium-sized industrial companies in particular can leave traditional procurement processes behind. Instead of wasting time tediously obtaining multiple quotes, more and more buyers rely on our market-leading platform solution.
“The current Series B financing and the very successful first quarter of this year gives us additional momentum to convince other markets of the efficiency of Laserhub.” -- Christoph Rößner, Laserhub
Patric Hoffmann, Head of new investor Schenker Ventures: “After the heatwave of recent years, the venture capital market appears to be cooling off. At Schenker Ventures, we see this as an opportunity to underline our commitment to great founders like Adrian and Christoph. Supply chains today need to be resilient, and this is where Laserhub’s Manufacturing-as-a-Service solution creates real added value. We are very pleased to support Laserhub in its growth with our resources, expertise, and additional capital.”
Laserhub GmbH is a B2B start-up from Stuttgart that has developed a vertically integrated procurement platform for industrial metal parts. The smart algorithm links the individual specifications of the customer with the resources of the producers from the Laserhub network for orders. The digital process covers all steps from the automatic creation of an offer, to placing the order, implementation, logistics, and billing.