Immensa, a MENA-based additive manufacturing and digital stock platform, raises $20 million 

The worldwide vitality spare components market is valued at over $90 billion, with the Center East representing about 35% of this sector. This sector stays largely untapped by current additive manufacturing and digital inventory platforms which have unfold footprints throughout medical, aviation, automotive and jewellery industries.

Not like these industries, which have embraced additive manufacturing and 3D printing for over a decade, the vitality sector solely started adopting it not too way back, and one of many startups on the forefront of this innovation is MENA-based Immensa. 

Based by Fahmi Al Shawwa, the Dubai-founded startup commenced operations in 2016, focusing on harnessing additive manufacturing and 3D printing for industrial purposes. Two years later, it recognized the vitality sector as its goal market and has now secured $20 million in Collection B financing. 

Globally, a number of industries face vital international provide chain points as legacy constructions typically battle to satisfy buyer wants successfully. Industries resembling oil and fuel, petrochemicals and energy technology have some of the advanced provide chains on the earth. In an interview with TechCrunch, Al Shawwa famous that among the largest firms, for instance, Equinor, ConocoPhillips and Saudi Electrical energy Firm, every sit on over a billion {dollars} price of spare components, most of that are manufactured in areas exterior their headquarters. What additive manufacturing brings to the fray is permitting these conglomerates to entry spare components on demand with out mass manufacturing in hubs throughout Southeast Asia, China, or Latin America. 

In Immensa’s case, it assesses these components for its shoppers and determines the share that qualifies for on-demand manufacturing, thereby diminishing its shoppers’ heavy reliance on imports. As an instance, if a manufacturing facility close to London experiences turbine points requiring an impeller substitute, the everyday course of entails putting a request with the procurement warehouse. If the warehouse possesses the half, it’s despatched; in any other case, the producer is contacted. The producer, primarily based in Germany, collaborates with a contract producer in China, resulting in the manufacturing of the half. After high quality management in Germany, the half is shipped to London after which to the shopper. This shipping-intensive course of contributes to a carbon footprint that’s doubtless 50% or greater than what native manufacturing would entail.

Immensa’s strategy is to streamline the method. When an element breaks, shoppers can log on, find the required half and place an order. It could possibly then direct the order to the closest certified 3D printing facility, typically round Heathrow or exterior London. The half is produced swiftly and delivered inside days, slashing lead occasions. This not solely reduces total prices but in addition eliminates customs and transport hassles from the equation. 

This considerably reduces the spare components steadiness sheet by $200-300 million for many of those vitality conglomerates, in accordance with Al Shawwa; yearly, these firms grapple with pointless losses estimated at $30 billion. The transition to a digitized provide chain additionally gives vital environmental advantages like minimizing wastage and lowering the carbon footprint.

“Today, we are by far the largest company that focuses on digital inventory for the energy sector and the energy sector is effectively oil and gas refineries, petrochemicals, power generation, power distribution, utilities, water, nuclear and renewables,” mentioned the founder, who holds a number of certifications in additive manufacturing and is without doubt one of the pioneers of additive manufacturing within the Center East.

“These all fall under the energy industry specifications and this is where we focus on what we do to simplify as an offering: We go to large companies, we take a look at their physical warehouses, and we try to assess how much of this can be converted to a digital warehouse or a virtual warehouse whereby they can press a button and get the part produced on demand.”

The UAE-headquartered startup claims to be the one firm to personal and management the whole digital provide chain of the vitality sector. Working on the DIS RT platform, it gives complete options spanning evaluation, digitization and production-on-demand, successfully addressing the intertwined points of knowledge safety and high quality management, as all processes are carried out in-house or on-premise. The corporate additionally highlights integrating proprietary AI instruments into DIS RT, enabling the administration of intensive knowledge volumes for real-time info processing. Immensa, which has over 100 additive manufacturing specialists and engineers, additionally claims to have developed its proprietary {hardware} programs, enhancing its aggressive edge available in the market.

Over the previous six years, Immensa has meticulously assessed over 1,000,000 components, producing greater than 15,000 parts. It began within the UAE and Kuwait earlier than increasing into Saudi Arabia. It operates from two foremost hubs — amenities situated in Dubai and Saudi Arabia — serving shoppers throughout the Center East, North Africa and shortly North America because it gears as much as prolong attain to shoppers within the U.S., mentioned Al Shawwa.

Al Shawwa says Immensa’s clientele predominantly contains main oil and fuel conglomerates, together with famend entities resembling Aramco, Adnoc and Schlumberger. Whereas its focus is on shoppers’ high quality, the seven-year-old has efficiently serviced a considerable quantity within the vitality sector, together with a minimum of 40 firms, encompassing finish customers and unique tools producers (OEMs), the gamers whose promote it’s disrupting.

“Until a year and a half ago, most OEMs fought us and accused us of counterfeit and copying,” mentioned Al Shawwa. “We take a lot of caution and care about not infringing on copyright and intellectual property because we also create our copyright and aside from being part of our core values and ethics, if I copy someone’s asset, someone else is going to copy mine.”

Specializing in out of date components and people exterior guarantee or not being serviced, Immensa has discovered itself in an advantaged place. Curiously, by the tip of final yr, OEMs began approaching the corporate; now, it has struck partnerships with 4 such firms, producing their components beneath license, serving to them digitize 3D-print parts, and paying them royalties in return. This shift displays a optimistic evolution in its relationships inside the business.

Revenues for the Dubai-based startup are generated via the evaluation, digitization and platform trade of those components. Final yr, it reached over $10 million in income, marking profitability; it plans to double these figures by the tip of 2023.

MENA-focused enterprise capital agency International Ventures led the newest funding spherical for Immensa. The funding attracted participation from new backers, together with Endeavor Catalyst Fund and EDGO and continued help from current buyers, resembling Power Capital Group (ECG), Shorooq Companions and Inexperienced Coast Investments. This comes two years after Immensa raised $7 million in Collection A funding.

Immensa says the funds secured will propel it from a regional entity to a outstanding international options supplier because it goals to assemble the biggest digital warehouse within the vitality sector. The funding can even improve DIS RT and fortify its AI instruments, it mentioned in a press release. As well as, Immensa plans to bolster its present operations in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, anticipating entry into a minimum of two further regional international locations inside the subsequent six months, with Oman doubtless being one in all them. The corporate is energetic in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan. In the meantime, enlargement into North America is on the horizon inside the subsequent 12-18 months, whereas potential tasks in Southeast Asia are at present beneath analysis.