- Oqton is an end-to-end cloud-based manufacturing platform.
- It combines software engineering with hardware manufacturing.
- The company raised $40 million in a Series A funding round.
Oqton is a start-up that combines engineering software with manufacturing hardware. The company develops a factory operating system for the same. It recently raised $40 million in a Series A financial round. The US/Belgium based software company specializes in AI-based manufacturing.
About the fundraising round
Fortino Capital (a B2B software engineer), Flemish Investment fund (a global engineering group) led the round. The founding team, angel investors like Carl Bass, Dries Buytaert, and Peter Mercelis also took part in the fundraising. The firm says the funds will be used to further grow the platform of Oqton while expanding its business alliances in markets. These markets include additive manufacturing, robotic welding, and CNC machining.
What does Oqton do?
Oqton offers a stable end-to-end cloud-based manufacturing platform that links data from design to logistics across the entire manufacturing ecosystem. With a streamlined supply chain and lower inventory, the cloud platform helps producers to run agile factories and handle diverse product mixes. Users can capture technical knowledge automatically and remove repetitive activities. They can access technology remotely and through multiple locations, and optimize production planning to maximize use and quality.
Ben Schrauwen and Samir Hanna founded the platform back in September 2017. The company has 60 employees with centers in the USA, Belgium, Denmark, and China. According to the firm, its CTO, Ben Schrauwen, will take over as CEO. The Executive Chairman will be Samir Hanna, Oqton’s co-founder and departing CEO. Hanna and Schrauwen are both serial entrepreneurs and have worked together at Autodesk before.
Services offered by Oqton:
Oqton automates 3D printing and hybrid additive and subtractive workflows of CNC, metal, and polymer, such as making castable jewelry wax. In a lab environment with custom dashboards, reports, and summaries, users can plan, monitor, and trace actions. The platform supports imports from design tools such as JewelCAD, Rhino, and Blender and proposes a number of AI inspection algorithm-informed optimizations and fixes, as well as part geometry pre-analyses and real-time calibration.
Oqton’s years of production use-trained AI algorithms orient components for 3D printing and manufacturing. Taking into account factors such as machine time, quantities, and qualities of materials, programming, surfaces, and specifications for finishing. The framework learns from use and proposes various annotations, orientations, and techniques for help. And it orchestrates schedules through production systems, equipment, and sites, based on system capability and target delivery dates for its forecasts.
