SPARETECH, the leading data platform for industrial spare parts, raised €10M in a Series A investment round led by New York-based software investor Insight Partners with participation from Headline and existing investors to scale internationally. Founded in 2018 by Martin Weber and Dr. Lukas Biedermann, former Porsche engineers, our solution answers the supply chain crisis with automated spare parts management processes, reducing manufacturers’ downtimes, costs, and CO2 emissions.
Making manufacturer's uncertainties predictable
Manufacturing companies worldwide are under pressure from all sides. Once stable supply chains are now threatened by turbulent geopolitical developments, labor shortages, rising material costs, higher interest rates and tighter lending standards.
Large industrial companies lose up to 120 million euros per manufacturing site every year due to unplanned downtime costs (source). To prevent this, companies tie up a large part of their cash flow by accumulating huge stocks of spare parts. Yet 72% of them still fear critical supply shortages (source).
To overcome these challenges, companies need to invest in new technologies to find innovative ways to control costs and increase efficiency. However, the market for industrial spare parts remains underdeveloped and often still relies on outdated, customized solutions such as Excel spreadsheets, and sometimes even paper and pen.
With verified spare parts data intelligence and the necessary software to turn these insights into efficiencies, we enable our customers to increase their free cash flow. Our global system of record connects information from original manufacturers with customers' databases, integrating with our existing software stacks (often from enterprise software providers like SAP).
"Spare parts management is one of the most overlooked factors for competitiveness and sustainability in manufacturing. The vision of SPARETECH is to create an industrial zero-waste sharing economy. Transparency and high quality data also lead to less wasted resources in spare parts procurement, transportation and scrapping.This has a direct impact on the price paid by the end user and on CO2 emissions.
Germany is known for its industrial manufacturing expertise, but the challenges it faces are global. The early introduction of our solution in the U.S. and other countries is now imminent, and our choice of of investors reflects this."
Martin Weber, CEO of SPARETECH
The industry strikes back - with data
Whether due to human error or simply insufficient software integration, poor data quality is the main cause of inefficient spare parts management.
“We found that factories have 15% duplicates and 17% obsolete parts in their spare parts inventory across their global production network. This results in increased purchasing costs, high inventories, and expensive machine downtimes that harm their competitiveness.”
Dr. Lukas Biedermann CCO of SPARETECH
Our unique and intelligent matching algorithms are designed to spot data inconsistencies, duplicates, and obsolete materials in the company’s material master. Once identified, this data is then enriched, harmonized, and alternative supply options are highlighted, making it easier to make informed decisions.
At its core, SPARETECH is about transforming industrial spare parts data into an efficient, reliable and collaborative experience. We start by enabling maintenance teams to manage their spare parts inventory more easily and efficiently. Procurement departments gain visibility into suppliers. But the benefits of SPARETECH extend far beyond the boundaries of a single company.
By creating a platform that connects industrial players from across the industry, we are helping to build a more resilient and connected community that can better respond to the challenges of today's economy.
"We are deeply impressed by the cost efficiency and strong revenue growth of SPARETECH over the past year. When talking to customers, they cite a clear return on investment after implementing SPARETECH, and six of its top 10 customers upsell within a few months. SPARETECH's exceptional customer feedback and strong net retention rate in 2022 are outstanding. We are excited to join the SPARETECH team on its mission and look forward to partnering with SPARETECH on the next phase of growth.”
Teddie Wardi, Managing Director of Insight Partners
Manufacturing industry, assemble!
SPARETECH has helped more than 120 global manufacturing companies, such as Bosch, Nestlé, Porsche, Yanfeng, and Airbus Helicopters. We have also built a strong network of innovative partners including ABB, Parker, Siemens, and more global manufacturers of automation technology.
Since its inception, our spare parts data intelligence platform has helped customers to:
- Reduce their spare parts inventories by 21%
- Lower procurement costs by 13%
- Reduce the risk of downtime due to lack of spare parts by 45%
- Reduce manual effort for spare parts master data management by 57%
For example, Bosch has achieved a 50% increase in efficiency by automating the review of all spare parts lists of new machines with SPARETECH's technology.
“SPARETECH’s growing network of customers and partners spells out clearly the tangible value they provide. The team is building the missing piece of infrastructure in the tool stack of any manufacturer. This is a tech company that understands the challenges of manufacturing and speaks their same language.”
Christian Miele, General Partner at Headline
The existing investor team, consisting of Headline and the Plug and Play Tech Center as well as prominent angel investors such as Christian Gaiser, Carsten Thoma, Christian Reber and Frederik Pfisterer, together with Insight Partners, support SPARETECH in its mission to create an industrial zero-waste sharing economy with software made in Germany.