European industrial companies are facing gnarly operational challenges. Labour shortages; de-skilling of the workforce; increased competition; the rising trade frictions and increased usage of tariffs; and ongoing disruptions in supply chains. Whilst confronting these challenges, these companies are simultaneously being forced to do more with less due to economic uncertainty, pressures from rising energy costs, a higher focus on sustainability and regulatory restrictions.
European industrial success is crucial for the continent to thrive – manufacturing alone accounted for about 15% of EU GDP in 2023 (Trading Economics); and over 20% of German GDP. Even more striking: unplanned machine downtime is estimated to cost European industrial companies €500 billion in lost revenue every year (Siemens, 2024). Viewed from a perspective of the current global stage, approximately 80% of EU exports come from industry (American Chamber of Commerce to EU). Improving performance in this sector is not just a business imperative; it’s attracting international scrutiny.
European industrial success is crucial for the continent to thrive, yet unplanned machine downtime is estimated to cost European industrial companies €500 billion in lost revenue every year.
(Siemens, 2024)
One of the highest potential areas for optimisation to drive better performance is reducing downtime. It’s estimated that “the average manufacturer confronts 800 hours of equipment downtime per year – more than 15 hours per week” (Forbes), whilst a recent report from Siemens estimates the total costs of downtime for large companies can exceed 10% of total annual revenue. And it’s increasing. So it’s timely that a new wave of industrial AI businesses are rapidly scaling to support Europe’s industrial heartland to become more productive by reducing downtime. Munich-based remberg, already managing over 1 million industrial assets, is at the vanguard of this emerging theme.
Enter remberg
Oxx and Acton have co-led a [€15m Series A+] financing in the business, alongside Earlybird and SpeedInvest, to enable asset-intensive industrial businesses to increase uptime and deliver a higher level of productivity. Led by four commercially and technically gifted founders, David, Julian, Cecil and Hagen, the remberg asset platform empowers maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) teams; and after-sales (field) service teams, to optimise the processes around technicians repairing industrial machinery, for both planned and un-scheduled maintenance.
The AI-native business has an embedded Copilot, which ingests historical machine data and documentation to provide technicians with targeted troubleshooting instructions—directly accessible on the factory floor via QR-code-enabled access. Over time – we believe that every asset will have an AI Copilot or Agent; and remberg will become a full-stack automated system to remediate an increasing proportion of repairs on autopilot; helping industrial companies optimise asset uptime and better compete on a global stage.
Already trusted by over 150 industrial businesses – including SCHUNK, Liqui Moly, Brandt Zwieback-Schokoladen, and Edding – remberg is fast becoming a core system of record for the maintenance and service departments of forward-thinking, modern, industrial businesses. It’s a prime example of a focussed vertical SaaS business, already delivering game-changing outcomes for its customers today by the use of AI-enabled workflows to reduce time to repair and optimise scheduling efficiency.
We believe there is white-space in Europe to build the continent’s leading AI-native industrial asset management platform, and all of us at Oxx are super excited to support the entire remberg team in expanding across Europe and accelerating adoption of this important technology.
