Smartex, a Portugal-based startup that develops hardware-enabled, AI-driven software to detect textile defects in real-time, has raised $24.7 million in Series A funding.
The investment came from H&M Group, DCVC, SOSV’s HAX, Spider Capital, Momenta Ventures, Bombyx Growth Fund, Faber, and Fashion for Good.
With the investment, Smartex will expand the business strategically to new geographies, continue to grow the team, and develop product lines to help manufacturers and fashion brands improve control of their productions while increasing textile quality and traceability.
Gilberto Loureiro, co-founder, and CEO of Smartex said, “We are privileged to be in a very unique position to add intrinsic value to a giant industry that is fundamental and touches so many lives, fueling our mission to sustainability and profitability of textile factories worldwide. With our technology and talent, we will be able to pioneer a new chapter in the fashion industry and ultimately reduce waste and costs. All efforts are necessary to generate a positive impact as we strive to solve this global challenge and contribute to a more sustainable world.”
Smartex is present in several markets across Europe, Central Asia, South America, and Africa, and plans to expand further into Asia in 2023, empowering factories worldwide to produce less waste.
Company: Smartex Corp.
Raised: $24.7M
Round: Series A
Funding Month: November 2022
Lead Investors: H&M Group, DCVC, SOSV’s HAX, Spider Capital, Momenta Ventures, Bombyx Growth Fund, Faber, and Fashion for Good
Additional Investors:
Company Website: https://www.smartex.ai/
Software Category: Automated Textile Inspection
About the Company: Smartex was founded in 2018 by Antonio Rocha, Gilberto Loureiro, and Paulo Ribeiro to solve problems in the textile industry and take it to the next level with its AI-based solutions. Its AI-based solutions are eliminating waste at the source of the textile manufacturing chain. Smartex combines tailored hardware, vision software, and machine learning algorithms that work together to detect all textile defects, enhance production performance, increase worker safety and transparency, save time and decrease sunk costs, decrease CO2 emissions, reduce water wastage, and more. The company has a team of 91, including interns, and 30% of its staff is female. Smartex’s automated identification process reduces textile waste, CO2 emissions, energy, water, production time, and capital expenditure by automatically shutting down production in order to prevent the waste of materials. Its customers include brands like Tintex Textiles, Familitex, Toraman Tekstil, Ekoten, and more.
Source: https://techfundingnews.com/founder-who-worked-in-factories-as-a-teenager-raises-24-7m-to-introduce-real-time-defect-detection-in-textile-industry/