Industrial 3D specialist Threedy Secures $10.4 Million in Latest Series A Investment Round

February 21, 2024

Threedy is a high-tech start-up founded in 2020 as a spin-off from Fraunhofer’s Institute for Computer Graphics Research (IGD) in Darmstadt, Germany. Three remarkably successful years after its foundation, Threedy has secured a $10.4 million investment to accelerate growth across industries and regions. New investors comprise LBBW Venture Capital, TRUMPF VENTURE, Futury Capital and EquityPitcher Ventures. The investment underlines Threedy’s strong position to capture a substantial market share of the fast-growing industrial digital twin space.   

Digital transformation in industry

Threedy’s instant3Dhub is a high-performance spatial computing technology, enabling customer 3D data, any compositions, and its visualization at scale. By making data available and accessible in real-time on any device, at any time, it allows for the optimization of a multitude of digital processes all along the industrial value chain and a significant reduction in associated costs. Implementing instant3Dhub enables companies to save valuable time and resources, e.g. by eliminating waiting times, reducing license and infrastructure costs.

Threedy allows its customers to establish a modern software architecture which reduces dependency on the monolithic and closed stacks of incumbent software vendors and opens the door to the agile development and scalable roll-out of a modern lightweight application layer. With a wide range of features for digital engineering, advanced collaboration, and seamless Mixed Reality, Threedy’s software provides a strong foundation for industrial digital transformation.

Working with 3D data becomes as simple as sharing a link, simply by referencing it from arbitrary sources e.g., existing PDM/PLM solutions, and without any preparation or simplification efforts. Threedy’s technology enables new, scalable applications over the entire product life cycle, from engineering to after sales – web-based and with zero-footprint on the client. By streamlining their 3D data utilization and communication, companies can also reduce their ecological footprint: business travel can be largely replaced by virtual exchanges, saving resources and time.

instant3Dhub – industrial 3D visualization across client devices

Rapidly growing number of partnerships and application scenarios

Over the first three years, Threedy successfully transformed from a Fraunhofer department to an independent company. Since its foundation in late 2020, Threedy has experienced significant growth, almost tripling its staff to build up a team of more than 50 highly skilled professionals from around the world. The company has not only maintained its strong customer relationships, but also experienced remarkable growth, especially in the Automotive and Manufacturing sectors.

Threedy’s cutting-edge technology is valued by numerous industry leaders, including the top-tier German car Manufacturers. Furthermore, Threedy has successfully broadened its network of partnerships, expanding beyond the initial focus areas of Automotive and the German market. With a substantial $10.4M Series A investment, Threedy is now ready for the next step, backed by the new investors LBBW Venture Capital, TRUMPF VENTURE, Futury Capital, and EquityPitcher Ventures. Existing investors Matterwave Ventures, Fraunhofer and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) renewed their commitment by participating in the Series A investment.

Threedy will continue its commitment to the commercialization of its innovative spatial computing infrastructure, accelerating the adoption across industries and application scenarios. The investment will further enable Threedy to drive the evolution of its product portfolio. Threedy’s expansion plans include further internationalization, while remaining dedicated to excellence and innovation, and making a lasting impact in serving their partners’ digital transformation. Threedy is now actively looking for new people in different roles to join its team, individuals who want to shape the future of the industrial digital twin space.

Investor Statements

Threedy caught our immediate interest with their cutting-edge technology and enormous growth potential. Their advanced spatial computing platform matches our investment strategy to support groundbreaking digital innovations that transform the backbone of key industries in the DACH area such as manufacturing or automotive. Threedy’s instant3Dhub empowers companies to effortlessly access their most valuable assets – 3D Data – in real-time, on any device, at any given moment. We are excited to lead this investment and support Threedy’s great team on their future journey.

Patrick Herlinger (Investment Manager, LBBW Venture Capital)

Threedy has successfully built a strong customer network of leading automotive and manufacturing companies for its revolutionary spatial computing technology, demonstrating the potential to become a market leader. As one of Threedy’ s most esteemed customers, TRUMPF builds on instant3Dhub to support Field Service workers with 3D visualization. We are more than excited to support Threedy’ s next growth step with our investment.

Jens Ortgiese (Principal, TRUMPF VENTURE)

We are excited about the opportunity to support the Hessian deep tech company Threedy in a strong investor consortium to drive the digitalization of manufacturing enterprises globally.

Benjamin Krahmer (Managing Director, Futury Capital)

Innovative organizations from the DACH region always catch our immediate interest. With its revolutionary spatial computing approach, Threedy aligns perfectly with our investment thesis. We firmly believe in the immense potential of the company and are eager to support their journey.

Sascha Horrig (Founding Partner, EquityPitcher Ventures)

We remain committed to supporting Threedy. Over the last three years since its foundation, Threedy showed a remarkable success story, transitioning from a start-up and Fraunhofer spin-off to an established company. With already more than 50 employees, a growing customer base, valuable partnerships, and increasing application scenarios, we are excited to contribute to Threedy’ s next growth step.

Robert Gallenberger (Founding Partner at Matterwave Ventures), Gregor Haidl (Principal at High-Tech Gründerfonds) and Markus Weitzel (Investment Manager at Fraunhofer Venture)

About Investors

LBBW Venture Capital
LBBW Venture Capital supports startup founders raising a seed or series A round within the DACH region as an evergreen fund since 1998. Search fields include B2B Software, FinTech, DeepTech and Life Science. LBBW Venture Capital provides growth support through the large client network of LBBW and can offer additional financial services at later stages as well as advise on potential M&A or IPO exits.
https://www.lbbwvc.de/

TRUMPF VENTURE
TRUMPF Venture is the corporate venture capital unit of the TRUMPF Group. The CVC arm invests globally in early-stage deep-tech startups active in areas complementary or adjacent to the TRUMPF core business.
https://www.trumpf.com/en_INT/company/trumpf-group/trumpf-venture/

Futury Capital
Futury Capital is an early and growth stage investor focusing on tech startups in Germany and worldwide. The investment portfolio favors globally scalable business models across a variety of industries. Through its LP structure with the State of Hesse, family offices, institutional investors, and multinational enterprises, Futury Capital supports the portfolio strategically and operationally to help build exceptional companies.
https://www.futurycapital.vc/en

EquityPitcher Ventures
EquityPitcher Ventures is a leading Swiss Venture Capital firm founded in 2016. They invest industry-agnostically in early-growth startups from the DACH Region. Through the close cooperation with renowned industry experts, co-investors and exit partners, EquityPitcher paves the way for entrepreneurs to attain the three decisive success factors: capital, know- how and network.
https://equitypitcher.com/en/

Fraunhofer Venture
Fraunhofer Venture is the central spin-off and investment management department of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. It offers founders, start-ups, industrial companies, and investors a comprehensive support program with access to the cutting-edge technologies of 76 Fraunhofer institutes as well as to Fraunhofer’s infrastructure and expertise – including more than 7,600 patent families. The range of services offered by Fraunhofer Venture includes extensive support and advice, from conception to the founding of a company, active management of Fraunhofer investments, assistance in the search for funding through to the possible sale of the company.
https://www.fraunhoferventure.de/en.html

Matterwave Ventures
Matterwave Ventures is a European venture capital firm based in Munich and has been specializing in DeepTech innovations with industrial applications for many years. The experienced team invests across Europe, early stage, in software and hardware-based business models. The goal is to build world-leading companies that drive the future of industrial value creation, improving resource efficiency, technology sovereignty and operational efficiency. Over the last 20 years, the team invested in over 60 companies. Matterwave invests in “full stack”, from materials and components to complete systems and software solutions. With over EUR 200 million of capital under management, Matterwave typically participates in Seed and Series A financing rounds with initial investments between EUR 1-4 million. Including follow-on financing rounds, over EUR 10 million can be invested per portfolio company.
https://matterwave.vc

High-Tech Gründerfonds
The seed investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) finances tech start-ups with growth potential and has supported more than 700 start-ups since 2005. With the launch of its fourth fund, HTGF now has about 1.4 billion euros under management. Its team of experienced investment managers and start-up experts support young companies with expertise, entrepreneurial spirit, and passion. HTGF’s focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digital tech, industrial tech, life sciences, chemistry, and related business areas. To date, external investors have injected about 5 billion euros of capital into the HTGF portfolio via more than 2,000 follow-on financing rounds. In addition, HTGF has already successfully sold shares in more than 170 companies.

Fund investors in this public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, KfW Capital and 45 companies from a wide range of industries.