From Bootstrapping to Growth Acceleration: Insights from Braincube's Stealthy Ascent
From Bootstrapping to Growth Acceleration: Insights from Braincube's Stealthy Ascent
by Erik de la Rivière
In the often-frenetic world of tech startups, where raising VC funding seems to be the mainstream way,Braincube's story stands out for its singular trajectory.
Braincube,the market-leading AI-powered manufacturing data software, was a company that,on paper, looked far from the usual Paris-based startups in vogue at the timeof our investment, back in 2018: the company was already 11 years old, growing profitably at what was considered a relatively low double-digit growth rate, and was headquartered in Issoire, in central France.
Yet, on October 8, 2018, Braincube announced having raised a €12m round led by IRIS in partnership with Next47, Siemens’ corporate venture arm. And 5 years after this first fundraising,it announced a new €83m round led by Scottish Equity Partners alongside Bpifrance.
From individual factory-level field sales to corporate deployments in large multi-site manufacturing groups
The current strength of Braincube's industrial IoT platform partly relies on historical field sales at factory level that helped build a strong customer-driven product.
This sales approach to factory managers was key to strengthen the benefits of the company’s manufacturing data platform interms of cost reductions, reduced energy consumption, greater efficiency, improved quality, increased yield production, and superior sustainability in factories. This very pragmatic field sales model allowed the company to build a strong usecase-focused and ROI-driven product, tailored for manufacturers by engineers with solid industrial background.
After its first funding round the company took things to the next level, pivoting from its historical single-factory sales approach to a multi-site deployment sales strategy, targeting large manufacturing groupsat corporate level.
This sales pivot, completed with IRIS support, enabled the company to strongly accelerate growth in recent years. The company expanded into several large manufacturing verticals, notably food and beverage, pulp and paper, building materials, chemical and tires, and plastic industries. They signed leading global manufacturing clients such as Bridgestone (introduced by IRIS), International Paper, Nestlé, Saint-Gobain, and many others.
Still headquartered in Issoire (Auvergne, central France), where its R&D team continues developing and nurturing its IIoT platform and unique proprietary AI, Braincube further accelerated its international development, notably in the US. Its solution is now used on manufacturing sites across 35 countries.
From bootstrapping to growth acceleration - with the right financial support.
Braincube did not follow the usual venture capital financing path, developping for 11 years in self-financed mode. Its growth rate was lower than the usual expected from VC-funded companies, but it remarkably built a strong customer-driven product bringing significant ROI to clients in various large industry verticals, making it an ideal case for growth acceleration.
I remember meeting the founders at an industry trade show where I was impressed to find their booth directly next to Siemens’. Interestingly, Siemens was bringing large clients on Braincube’s adjoining booth to illustrate the benefits of Industry 4.0 applications value-add. So when we led the €12m funding round in 2018 it made sense for us and Braincube to invite Next47, Siemens' corporate venture arm, to co-invest.
It was then time to help the company adaptits go-to-market strategy, improve its processes and organization, build theright SaaS KPI-driven culture, and implement adequate governance structure. This enabled the company to reach the scale, efficiency and standards that are necessary to attract PE funds for its next stage of growth.
Late 2023, after having received several offers from PE funds, Braincube chose to partner with Scottish Equity Partners andBpifrance for a new equity round, at which point IRIS sold its shareholding.
Braincube's story is a testament to how success and long-term sustainable growth can be initiated off the beaten track of traditional venture capital financing, even for complex AI applications.
It also illustrates IRIS’ Growth investment strategy: targeting both high-growth companies historically backed by venture capital, and “hidden gems”, typically self-financed, tech champions that have potential for strong growth acceleration.
In the often-frenetic world of tech startups, where raising VC funding seems to be the mainstream way,Braincube's story stands out for its singular trajectory.
Braincube,the market-leading AI-powered manufacturing data software, was a company that,on paper, looked far from the usual Paris-based startups in vogue at the timeof our investment, back in 2018: the company was already 11 years old, growing profitably at what was considered a relatively low double-digit growth rate, and was headquartered in Issoire, in central France.
Yet, on October 8, 2018, Braincube announced having raised a €12m round led by IRIS in partnership with Next47, Siemens’ corporate venture arm. And 5 years after this first fundraising,it announced a new €83m round led by Scottish Equity Partners alongside Bpifrance.
From individual factory-level field sales to corporate deployments in large multi-site manufacturing groups
The current strength of Braincube's industrial IoT platform partly relies on historical field sales at factory level that helped build a strong customer-driven product.
This sales approach to factory managers was key to strengthen the benefits of the company’s manufacturing data platform interms of cost reductions, reduced energy consumption, greater efficiency, improved quality, increased yield production, and superior sustainability in factories. This very pragmatic field sales model allowed the company to build a strong usecase-focused and ROI-driven product, tailored for manufacturers by engineers with solid industrial background.
After its first funding round the company took things to the next level, pivoting from its historical single-factory sales approach to a multi-site deployment sales strategy, targeting large manufacturing groupsat corporate level.
This sales pivot, completed with IRIS support, enabled the company to strongly accelerate growth in recent years. The company expanded into several large manufacturing verticals, notably food and beverage, pulp and paper, building materials, chemical and tires, and plastic industries. They signed leading global manufacturing clients such as Bridgestone (introduced by IRIS), International Paper, Nestlé, Saint-Gobain, and many others.
Still headquartered in Issoire (Auvergne, central France), where its R&D team continues developing and nurturing its IIoT platform and unique proprietary AI, Braincube further accelerated its international development, notably in the US. Its solution is now used on manufacturing sites across 35 countries.
From bootstrapping to growth acceleration - with the right financial support.
Braincube did not follow the usual venture capital financing path, developping for 11 years in self-financed mode. Its growth rate was lower than the usual expected from VC-funded companies, but it remarkably built a strong customer-driven product bringing significant ROI to clients in various large industry verticals, making it an ideal case for growth acceleration.
I remember meeting the founders at an industry trade show where I was impressed to find their booth directly next to Siemens’. Interestingly, Siemens was bringing large clients on Braincube’s adjoining booth to illustrate the benefits of Industry 4.0 applications value-add. So when we led the €12m funding round in 2018 it made sense for us and Braincube to invite Next47, Siemens' corporate venture arm, to co-invest.
It was then time to help the company adaptits go-to-market strategy, improve its processes and organization, build theright SaaS KPI-driven culture, and implement adequate governance structure. This enabled the company to reach the scale, efficiency and standards that are necessary to attract PE funds for its next stage of growth.
Late 2023, after having received several offers from PE funds, Braincube chose to partner with Scottish Equity Partners andBpifrance for a new equity round, at which point IRIS sold its shareholding.
Braincube's story is a testament to how success and long-term sustainable growth can be initiated off the beaten track of traditional venture capital financing, even for complex AI applications.
It also illustrates IRIS’ Growth investment strategy: targeting both high-growth companies historically backed by venture capital, and “hidden gems”, typically self-financed, tech champions that have potential for strong growth acceleration.
In the often-frenetic world of tech startups, where raising VC funding seems to be the mainstream way,Braincube's story stands out for its singular trajectory.
Braincube,the market-leading AI-powered manufacturing data software, was a company that,on paper, looked far from the usual Paris-based startups in vogue at the timeof our investment, back in 2018: the company was already 11 years old, growing profitably at what was considered a relatively low double-digit growth rate, and was headquartered in Issoire, in central France.
Yet, on October 8, 2018, Braincube announced having raised a €12m round led by IRIS in partnership with Next47, Siemens’ corporate venture arm. And 5 years after this first fundraising,it announced a new €83m round led by Scottish Equity Partners alongside Bpifrance.
From individual factory-level field sales to corporate deployments in large multi-site manufacturing groups
The current strength of Braincube's industrial IoT platform partly relies on historical field sales at factory level that helped build a strong customer-driven product.
This sales approach to factory managers was key to strengthen the benefits of the company’s manufacturing data platform interms of cost reductions, reduced energy consumption, greater efficiency, improved quality, increased yield production, and superior sustainability in factories. This very pragmatic field sales model allowed the company to build a strong usecase-focused and ROI-driven product, tailored for manufacturers by engineers with solid industrial background.
After its first funding round the company took things to the next level, pivoting from its historical single-factory sales approach to a multi-site deployment sales strategy, targeting large manufacturing groupsat corporate level.
This sales pivot, completed with IRIS support, enabled the company to strongly accelerate growth in recent years. The company expanded into several large manufacturing verticals, notably food and beverage, pulp and paper, building materials, chemical and tires, and plastic industries. They signed leading global manufacturing clients such as Bridgestone (introduced by IRIS), International Paper, Nestlé, Saint-Gobain, and many others.
Still headquartered in Issoire (Auvergne, central France), where its R&D team continues developing and nurturing its IIoT platform and unique proprietary AI, Braincube further accelerated its international development, notably in the US. Its solution is now used on manufacturing sites across 35 countries.
From bootstrapping to growth acceleration - with the right financial support.
Braincube did not follow the usual venture capital financing path, developping for 11 years in self-financed mode. Its growth rate was lower than the usual expected from VC-funded companies, but it remarkably built a strong customer-driven product bringing significant ROI to clients in various large industry verticals, making it an ideal case for growth acceleration.
I remember meeting the founders at an industry trade show where I was impressed to find their booth directly next to Siemens’. Interestingly, Siemens was bringing large clients on Braincube’s adjoining booth to illustrate the benefits of Industry 4.0 applications value-add. So when we led the €12m funding round in 2018 it made sense for us and Braincube to invite Next47, Siemens' corporate venture arm, to co-invest.
It was then time to help the company adaptits go-to-market strategy, improve its processes and organization, build theright SaaS KPI-driven culture, and implement adequate governance structure. This enabled the company to reach the scale, efficiency and standards that are necessary to attract PE funds for its next stage of growth.
Late 2023, after having received several offers from PE funds, Braincube chose to partner with Scottish Equity Partners andBpifrance for a new equity round, at which point IRIS sold its shareholding.
Braincube's story is a testament to how success and long-term sustainable growth can be initiated off the beaten track of traditional venture capital financing, even for complex AI applications.
It also illustrates IRIS’ Growth investment strategy: targeting both high-growth companies historically backed by venture capital, and “hidden gems”, typically self-financed, tech champions that have potential for strong growth acceleration.
From Bootstrapping to Growth Acceleration: Insights from Braincube's Stealthy Ascent
by Erik de la Rivière
In the often-frenetic world of tech startups, where raising VC funding seems to be the mainstream way,Braincube's story stands out for its singular trajectory.
Braincube,the market-leading AI-powered manufacturing data software, was a company that,on paper, looked far from the usual Paris-based startups in vogue at the timeof our investment, back in 2018: the company was already 11 years old, growing profitably at what was considered a relatively low double-digit growth rate, and was headquartered in Issoire, in central France.
Yet, on October 8, 2018, Braincube announced having raised a €12m round led by IRIS in partnership with Next47, Siemens’ corporate venture arm. And 5 years after this first fundraising,it announced a new €83m round led by Scottish Equity Partners alongside Bpifrance.
From individual factory-level field sales to corporate deployments in large multi-site manufacturing groups
The current strength of Braincube's industrial IoT platform partly relies on historical field sales at factory level that helped build a strong customer-driven product.
This sales approach to factory managers was key to strengthen the benefits of the company’s manufacturing data platform interms of cost reductions, reduced energy consumption, greater efficiency, improved quality, increased yield production, and superior sustainability in factories. This very pragmatic field sales model allowed the company to build a strong usecase-focused and ROI-driven product, tailored for manufacturers by engineers with solid industrial background.
After its first funding round the company took things to the next level, pivoting from its historical single-factory sales approach to a multi-site deployment sales strategy, targeting large manufacturing groupsat corporate level.
This sales pivot, completed with IRIS support, enabled the company to strongly accelerate growth in recent years. The company expanded into several large manufacturing verticals, notably food and beverage, pulp and paper, building materials, chemical and tires, and plastic industries. They signed leading global manufacturing clients such as Bridgestone (introduced by IRIS), International Paper, Nestlé, Saint-Gobain, and many others.
Still headquartered in Issoire (Auvergne, central France), where its R&D team continues developing and nurturing its IIoT platform and unique proprietary AI, Braincube further accelerated its international development, notably in the US. Its solution is now used on manufacturing sites across 35 countries.
From bootstrapping to growth acceleration - with the right financial support.
Braincube did not follow the usual venture capital financing path, developping for 11 years in self-financed mode. Its growth rate was lower than the usual expected from VC-funded companies, but it remarkably built a strong customer-driven product bringing significant ROI to clients in various large industry verticals, making it an ideal case for growth acceleration.
I remember meeting the founders at an industry trade show where I was impressed to find their booth directly next to Siemens’. Interestingly, Siemens was bringing large clients on Braincube’s adjoining booth to illustrate the benefits of Industry 4.0 applications value-add. So when we led the €12m funding round in 2018 it made sense for us and Braincube to invite Next47, Siemens' corporate venture arm, to co-invest.
It was then time to help the company adaptits go-to-market strategy, improve its processes and organization, build theright SaaS KPI-driven culture, and implement adequate governance structure. This enabled the company to reach the scale, efficiency and standards that are necessary to attract PE funds for its next stage of growth.
Late 2023, after having received several offers from PE funds, Braincube chose to partner with Scottish Equity Partners andBpifrance for a new equity round, at which point IRIS sold its shareholding.
Braincube's story is a testament to how success and long-term sustainable growth can be initiated off the beaten track of traditional venture capital financing, even for complex AI applications.
It also illustrates IRIS’ Growth investment strategy: targeting both high-growth companies historically backed by venture capital, and “hidden gems”, typically self-financed, tech champions that have potential for strong growth acceleration.
In the often-frenetic world of tech startups, where raising VC funding seems to be the mainstream way,Braincube's story stands out for its singular trajectory.
Braincube,the market-leading AI-powered manufacturing data software, was a company that,on paper, looked far from the usual Paris-based startups in vogue at the timeof our investment, back in 2018: the company was already 11 years old, growing profitably at what was considered a relatively low double-digit growth rate, and was headquartered in Issoire, in central France.
Yet, on October 8, 2018, Braincube announced having raised a €12m round led by IRIS in partnership with Next47, Siemens’ corporate venture arm. And 5 years after this first fundraising,it announced a new €83m round led by Scottish Equity Partners alongside Bpifrance.
From individual factory-level field sales to corporate deployments in large multi-site manufacturing groups
The current strength of Braincube's industrial IoT platform partly relies on historical field sales at factory level that helped build a strong customer-driven product.
This sales approach to factory managers was key to strengthen the benefits of the company’s manufacturing data platform interms of cost reductions, reduced energy consumption, greater efficiency, improved quality, increased yield production, and superior sustainability in factories. This very pragmatic field sales model allowed the company to build a strong usecase-focused and ROI-driven product, tailored for manufacturers by engineers with solid industrial background.
After its first funding round the company took things to the next level, pivoting from its historical single-factory sales approach to a multi-site deployment sales strategy, targeting large manufacturing groupsat corporate level.
This sales pivot, completed with IRIS support, enabled the company to strongly accelerate growth in recent years. The company expanded into several large manufacturing verticals, notably food and beverage, pulp and paper, building materials, chemical and tires, and plastic industries. They signed leading global manufacturing clients such as Bridgestone (introduced by IRIS), International Paper, Nestlé, Saint-Gobain, and many others.
Still headquartered in Issoire (Auvergne, central France), where its R&D team continues developing and nurturing its IIoT platform and unique proprietary AI, Braincube further accelerated its international development, notably in the US. Its solution is now used on manufacturing sites across 35 countries.
From bootstrapping to growth acceleration - with the right financial support.
Braincube did not follow the usual venture capital financing path, developping for 11 years in self-financed mode. Its growth rate was lower than the usual expected from VC-funded companies, but it remarkably built a strong customer-driven product bringing significant ROI to clients in various large industry verticals, making it an ideal case for growth acceleration.
I remember meeting the founders at an industry trade show where I was impressed to find their booth directly next to Siemens’. Interestingly, Siemens was bringing large clients on Braincube’s adjoining booth to illustrate the benefits of Industry 4.0 applications value-add. So when we led the €12m funding round in 2018 it made sense for us and Braincube to invite Next47, Siemens' corporate venture arm, to co-invest.
It was then time to help the company adaptits go-to-market strategy, improve its processes and organization, build theright SaaS KPI-driven culture, and implement adequate governance structure. This enabled the company to reach the scale, efficiency and standards that are necessary to attract PE funds for its next stage of growth.
Late 2023, after having received several offers from PE funds, Braincube chose to partner with Scottish Equity Partners andBpifrance for a new equity round, at which point IRIS sold its shareholding.
Braincube's story is a testament to how success and long-term sustainable growth can be initiated off the beaten track of traditional venture capital financing, even for complex AI applications.
It also illustrates IRIS’ Growth investment strategy: targeting both high-growth companies historically backed by venture capital, and “hidden gems”, typically self-financed, tech champions that have potential for strong growth acceleration.
In the often-frenetic world of tech startups, where raising VC funding seems to be the mainstream way,Braincube's story stands out for its singular trajectory.
Braincube,the market-leading AI-powered manufacturing data software, was a company that,on paper, looked far from the usual Paris-based startups in vogue at the timeof our investment, back in 2018: the company was already 11 years old, growing profitably at what was considered a relatively low double-digit growth rate, and was headquartered in Issoire, in central France.
Yet, on October 8, 2018, Braincube announced having raised a €12m round led by IRIS in partnership with Next47, Siemens’ corporate venture arm. And 5 years after this first fundraising,it announced a new €83m round led by Scottish Equity Partners alongside Bpifrance.
From individual factory-level field sales to corporate deployments in large multi-site manufacturing groups
The current strength of Braincube's industrial IoT platform partly relies on historical field sales at factory level that helped build a strong customer-driven product.
This sales approach to factory managers was key to strengthen the benefits of the company’s manufacturing data platform interms of cost reductions, reduced energy consumption, greater efficiency, improved quality, increased yield production, and superior sustainability in factories. This very pragmatic field sales model allowed the company to build a strong usecase-focused and ROI-driven product, tailored for manufacturers by engineers with solid industrial background.
After its first funding round the company took things to the next level, pivoting from its historical single-factory sales approach to a multi-site deployment sales strategy, targeting large manufacturing groupsat corporate level.
This sales pivot, completed with IRIS support, enabled the company to strongly accelerate growth in recent years. The company expanded into several large manufacturing verticals, notably food and beverage, pulp and paper, building materials, chemical and tires, and plastic industries. They signed leading global manufacturing clients such as Bridgestone (introduced by IRIS), International Paper, Nestlé, Saint-Gobain, and many others.
Still headquartered in Issoire (Auvergne, central France), where its R&D team continues developing and nurturing its IIoT platform and unique proprietary AI, Braincube further accelerated its international development, notably in the US. Its solution is now used on manufacturing sites across 35 countries.
From bootstrapping to growth acceleration - with the right financial support.
Braincube did not follow the usual venture capital financing path, developping for 11 years in self-financed mode. Its growth rate was lower than the usual expected from VC-funded companies, but it remarkably built a strong customer-driven product bringing significant ROI to clients in various large industry verticals, making it an ideal case for growth acceleration.
I remember meeting the founders at an industry trade show where I was impressed to find their booth directly next to Siemens’. Interestingly, Siemens was bringing large clients on Braincube’s adjoining booth to illustrate the benefits of Industry 4.0 applications value-add. So when we led the €12m funding round in 2018 it made sense for us and Braincube to invite Next47, Siemens' corporate venture arm, to co-invest.
It was then time to help the company adaptits go-to-market strategy, improve its processes and organization, build theright SaaS KPI-driven culture, and implement adequate governance structure. This enabled the company to reach the scale, efficiency and standards that are necessary to attract PE funds for its next stage of growth.
Late 2023, after having received several offers from PE funds, Braincube chose to partner with Scottish Equity Partners andBpifrance for a new equity round, at which point IRIS sold its shareholding.
Braincube's story is a testament to how success and long-term sustainable growth can be initiated off the beaten track of traditional venture capital financing, even for complex AI applications.
It also illustrates IRIS’ Growth investment strategy: targeting both high-growth companies historically backed by venture capital, and “hidden gems”, typically self-financed, tech champions that have potential for strong growth acceleration.
