The factory is going digital.
With each passing year, more manufacturers are leveraging digital twins — virtual representations of physical products, systems, or processes — across R&D and mass production. These technologies, which benefit from advances in AI and other advanced computing, allow manufacturers to create detailed prototypes and simulations before building an actual product.
For example, in 2022, NVIDIA released Omniverse, a virtual collaboration platform used by manufacturers for real-time simulation, visualization, and rendering of detailed 3D digital twins. BMW started implementing this platform across its global manufacturing facilities with expectations of a 30% more efficient planning process.
Globally, startups are helping drive forward digital twins in manufacturing across applications such as augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), computer-aided design (CAD), and factory analytics. However, they face a challenging funding environment, and an extended funding drought could slow progress in the space.
Using CB Insights data, we assess the landscape for manufacturing digital twins. Below, we cover:
- Equity funding and deal trends
- YoY funding change by region
- Deal breakdown by funding stage
- Which countries see the most deals
- M&A trends
Let’s dive in.
After falling by nearly 50% YoY in 2022, funding to the manufacturing digital twins space has continued to slide this year, reaching just $257M across 49 deals.
By the end of 2023, deals and dollars to the space will likely remain at their lowest levels in years.
However, a handful of companies continue to raise large funding rounds. These include:
- Virtualitics, a 3D visualization and data analytics company ($37M Series C in July)
- Robust.AI, a robotic material-handling digital twin platform ($20M Series A in April)
- Infinite Uptime, a predictive maintenance platform ($19M Series B in May)
