High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), together with Bayern Kapital, has invested in Munich-based IT startup Erium as part of a seven-figure seed financing round. SAR Elektronic GmbH is another co-investor. Erium's software solution "HALerium" enables the transparent modeling and optimization of manufacturing and assembly processes using small amounts of data.
Industrial manufacturing processes are becoming increasingly complex. In production, this can lead to incorrect machine settings, rising error rates, rework, and increased resource consumption. Machine learning models and artificial intelligence can counteract this. The startup Erium has developed an AI solution called HALerium for this use case, which enables process owners—for example, engineers or production managers—to independently create these machine learning models based on their domain knowledge and train them with a fraction of the data volume typically required. This aims to systematically link artificial intelligence with internal company process and expert knowledge.
The Munich-based startup's customers already include renowned names: BMW uses HALerium in a production line, and the company is currently in talks with another well-known vehicle manufacturer. Festo and Meissner AG also use Erium's software. Erium plans to invest the funds from the now-completed financing round primarily in recruiting additional employees and further developing its products.
Optimally position yourself for the coming growth years despite the currently difficult financing environment
Theo Steininger, Managing Director of Erium, says:
"Young IT companies don't always have it easy in the market, especially in their early stages. We are convinced that our AI solution can be a great help to a wide range of industrial companies. Therefore, we are very grateful to our three investors for the opportunity to optimally position ourselves for the coming years of growth, despite the currently difficult financing environment."
Gregor Haidl, Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds, says:
"We are pleased to be able to support Erium together with two experienced investors from the venture capital and industrial sectors. Data-driven methods for process forecasting and optimization are in high demand in the context of Industry 4.0, yet successful optimization methods and their productive use by customers are still rare due to the often complex and highly dynamic production environments. As a young company, Erium can already demonstrate promising customer successes in this area."
Transparent, easier to understand and manage
And also Roman Huber, Managing Director of Bayern Kapital, comments:
"On the path to Industry 4.0, new technologies such as machine learning are encountering highly complex application areas. With its solution, Erium has impressively demonstrated that process modeling and process optimization using artificial intelligence, while still challenging, can be made transparent, easier to understand, and manageable for users. For Bavaria as an industrial and high-tech location, and beyond, investing in young innovators such as Erium, whose solutions benefit both companies and their employees, is therefore crucial."
