Luminovo raises €11 million in seed funding to fix the broken electronics value chain with transformative software suite

• Luminovo is the world’s first cloud software suite that connects every stage of the electronics value chain to make it faster, cheaper and more sustainable to bring often critical and vital devices to market

• Luminovo’s solutions connect and unlock current, siloed processes in a way that improves real-time collaboration, prevents mistakes – which can lead to billions of electronic waste – and enables productivity gains

• This allows its partners to focus on bringing life-changing products in the industrial, healthcare, automotive and energy sectors to market

• Luminovo has raised a seed round from Chalfen Ventures, Tencent, Verve Ventures and others to develop its software and transform the $5 trillion electronics industry 

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Munich, 18 August 2022: Luminovo – the AI-powered software suite helping electronics leaders bring vital innovations to market faster, cheaper and more sustainably –  has raised €11 million in a seed round led by Chalfen Ventures with participation by Tencent, Verve Ventures and Khadjavi Capital Partners, as well as existing investors La Famiglia and Cherry Ventures. 

Launched in 2020 and led by Munich-based Stanford alumni Sebastian Schaal and Timon Ruban, Luminovo is the world’s first end-to-end cloud-based software suite built to help fuel technological progress through the improvement of hardware development on a global scale. 

From critical medical devices to electric car modules, smart gadgets that make our lives easier and everything in between, there is currently a disconnect between the advancements being built in labs and R&D departments, and these often life-changing advancements making it to market. In the case of medical devices, it can take up to seven years for a breakthrough to reach patients, and this can often be too late for millions of people and their loved ones. 

This disconnect comes from the fact that the current systems that manage the global product chain are broken, shrouded in bureaucracy, fragmented and siloed. This creates years of delays, not to mention billions in avoidable costs, and high environmental burdens. The overwhelming growth of electronics e-waste, alone, is set to reach 7.47m tonnes annually by 2030. 

Luminovo’s unified data model and modular software suite has been designed to fix this. It streamlines, accelerates and democratises the electronics development process which in turn helps reduce time to market, increase revenue, productivity and profitability, and fuels technological progress. 

Transforming the electronics value chain 

For electronics manufacturers (EMS), Luminovo's software brings together and reorganises the quoting process - including material and production costing - in one cloud-based tool,  replacing the need for different on-premise methods. By bringing the whole workflow together and connecting customers and suppliers, Luminovo automates many repetitive, manual parts of the process and allows manufacturers to focus on the more complex steps that need collaboration. 

PCB manufacturers use Luminovo to bring together the visualisation, analysis and adoption of PCBs in one workflow, decreasing quoting time and increasing efficiency. The suite also benefits original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) - Luminovo gives users relevant component information (lifecycle, availability, lead time, price and compliance of parts) in real-time and before prototypes are built and money is invested. This minimises the risk of re-designs on the way to production and the risk of shortages throughout the product lifecycle. 

By uniting processes and connecting project data in one tool, the Luminovo software suite simplifies and improves communication between experts from engineering, procurement, sales, value chain management and others. Together, these features combine to cut the time and cost to market in half and help reduce the environmental burden of bringing products to market. 

Driving forward the $5 trillion electronics industry

The advent of automation and the move to the cloud in the early 2000s led to the creation of the $43 billion DevOps market. Similarly, Luminovo is working on providing a comparable solution to the trillion-dollar electronics industry. As the only cloud-native system that is covering this value chain from end to end, it has a unique opportunity to transform processes for all stakeholders, making electronics design more resilient while ensuring production is more cost-effective across the entire ecosystem. 

Luminovo has raised €11m in seed funding to finance this transformation of the electronics industry. It will use this funding to accelerate product development and broaden its scope to encompass more of the value chain as well as grow its product engineering and revenue teams.

Sebastian Schaal, founder of Luminovo:

‍"We're on a mission to rethink the entire electronics value chain to make it more efficient, effective and impactful. It's infuriating that the manufacturers and designers that are building the products that will change the world are wholly reliant on excel spreadsheets and 20th-century communication tools to take their projects from design to production. We're committed to having a lasting positive impact on this industry with Luminovo and we're thrilled to have the support of Chalfen, Tencent and Verve as well as our existing group of stellar investors on this journey with us."

Timon Ruban, founder of Luminovo:

‍"It's been an incredible few years building Luminovo and already we're seeing the positive impact this tool is having across the electronics industry with over 50 customers who are building products that will be used in important sectors like industrial, healthcare, energy and others. But there's still so much to do to transform this industry and enable manufacturers and developers to focus on creating technological solutions to the world's biggest problems. It's an exciting time for Luminovo and we're looking forward to scaling the business with the help of our remarkable investors."

Mike Chalfen, founder of Chalfen Ventures:

‍"Complex process-driven industries are ripe for transformation but it often seems too hard for the people within them to make a change. Luminovo has designed products that are easy to adopt and deliver value fast, and is overcoming that resistance, and is already making a big difference to its customers across the electronics industry.  That is compelling when combined with its big vision. That combination is why I wanted to back Sebastian and Timon. I truly believe that Luminovo will become the defining software product for the electronics industry and I look forward to working closely with Sebastian and Timon to help them achieve their vision fully."

Dr Ling Ge, Chief European Representative and General Manager at Tencent:

‍"The electronics industry is growing at an astonishing rate. Suppliers and manufacturers across the value chain need industry-focused software that can enable them to make faster and more informed decisions and stay in constant communication with their partners. Luminovo is providing that solution and we're thrilled to be investing in the company as it works to transform this industry."

Christian Meermann, founding partner at Cherry Ventures:

‍"The electronics industry plays an integral role in driving forward global technological developments. Yet it's incredibly complex and much of it still relies on old-school communication methods and more - all at the expense of productivity and scalability. Timon, Sebastian and the team are the only ones cracking this problem with an all-encompassing modern software suite. After leading Luminovo's pre-seed round, we're proud to continue backing this fantastic team as they scale."

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About Luminovo: 

Luminovo is the world's first end-to-end software suite built for the electronics industry. The suite digitally connects stakeholders and data silos to allow for intelligent automation and real-time collaboration. By integrating at every stage of the value chain, Luminovo reduces the time and resources needed to go from idea to a market-ready electronics product. Established in 2020, Luminovo's investors include Chalfen Ventures, Tencent, Verve Ventures, La Famiglia and Cherry Ventures. luminovo.com

About Chalfen Ventures:

Chalfen Ventures is Mike Chalfen's VC firm. Mike backs software startups aiming to grow and dominate new and often unusual markets. He has backed companies such as King, Lokalise, Tipalti, Tray.io and Snyk. Investing from day 1 through series A, Chalfen Ventures often leads rounds, but is always flexible. Mike operates as a solo VC, with no distractions from working closely with the entrepreneurs who have chosen him. chalfenventures.com

About Tencent:

Tencent uses technology to enrich the lives of Internet users. Our communication and social services, Weixin and QQ, connect users with each other and with digital content and services, both online and offline, making their lives more convenient. Our targeted advertising service helps advertisers reach out to hundreds of millions of consumers in China. Our FinTech and business services support our partners' business growth and assist their digital upgrade. Tencent invests heavily in talent and technological innovation, actively promoting the development of the Internet industry. Tencent was founded in Shenzhen, China, in 1998. Shares of Tencent (00700.HK) are listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. tencent.com

About Cherry Ventures:

Cherry Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm led by a team of entrepreneurs with experience building fast-scaling companies such as Zalando and Spotify. The firm backs Europe's boldest founders, usually as their first institutional investor, and supports them in everything from their go-to-market strategy and the scaling of their businesses. Cherry Ventures has previously invested in the seed stage of over 90 companies across Europe, including FlixBus, Auto1 Group, Flaschenpost, Infarm, Rows, Forto, SellerX, Juni, and Flink. Cherry Ventures is based in Berlin and invests across Europe with operations in London and Stockholm. cherry.vc