Startup Series: Saudi’s Immensa Labs to accelerate adoption of additive manufacturing in the Middle East
From decentralized finance to NFTs, technologies that enable digitization of assets have been widely adopted by many businesses and consumers over the past few years. Immensa Labs, an industry leader in additive manufacturing (AM) of spare parts, is one of our portfolio companies that aligns well with this global trend of digitization.
Immensa uses 3D modeling and advanced engineering techniques to convert spare parts into digital assets, which are stored in cloud-based warehouses for easier access anywhere in the world. Leveraging its established library of digital designs and inventories, Immensa’s on-demand additive manufacturing capabilities help companies reduce total cost of ownership by lowering time lost on transportation, thereby lowering downtime, warehousing costs. AM also provides greater customization and complexity, heightened sustainability from reduced material waste and lower energy intensity, as well as reduced time-to-market and just-in-time production.
Geographically, Immensa serves the entire GCC with a strong presence in Dubai, Sharjah, Kuwait and Dammam, and recently made KSA its key hub for regional expansion through acquisition of two leading 3D printing companies in the Kingdom. The company has developed industrial applications for various sectors such as defense, oil and gas, aviation, medical and transportation, with a keen focus on the energy industry, to eliminate constraints with the conventional methods of manufacturing and warehousing of physical inventories.
Since its foundation in 2016 by Fahmi Al Shawwa, Immensa’s focus on providing integrated additive manufacturing solutions has granted its position as the first ISO-certified AM engineering company in the MENA region. By 2020, Immensa became the only AM company with an ISO 29001 (Oil & Gas) certificate to penetrate the lucrative O&G market. As a pioneer and leader in the field, Immensa also partook in a global Joint Innovation Project with 19 other organizations and developed international guidelines for qualification of additively manufactured parts in the O&G and maritime sectors.
While Immensa Labs is a key beneficiary of evolving AM and printer technologies, Immensa’s vision of building the region’s largest on-demand AM spare parts platform is nonetheless impeded by technical challenges as well as shortage of digital inventories. That is why Immensa has developed its own robust part digitization process and specializes not just in 3D manufacturing, but also in digitization and warehousing of parts as its main service. Immensa targets to build a digital inventory platform with over 1 million parts by 2030 vs. currently at over 4,700 digitized parts.
Shorooq Partners invested in Immensa Labs last year as our ongoing efforts to back ambitious startups in the region, and we have no doubt that Immensa will continue to play a vital role in milestone AM projects across GCC and beyond. We anticipate Immensa to monetize proprietary digital assets and additively manufacture for various sectors with speed and volume, revolutionizing the overall supply chain of manufacturing.
A Senior Investment Professional with Shorooq Partners, Tina Daher emphasized: “Immensa’s business model and technological strengths are unique. Company was founded by an A+ founder with years of investments and operations background. They solve existing problems and have the capabilities to maintain its dominant position in the regional energy space. They will continue to expand digital assets library to generate further growth and venture into other untapped markets. They already have top tier & blue-chip customers. Essentially, in a world where worldwide supply chain remains affected by challenges from COVID and other events leading to delays in transportation and downtime loss, Immensa Labs is at the forefront of smart manufacturing.”
Shorooq Partners and Immensa Labs share a mutual overarching goal of capitalizing on KSA’s efforts to enhance the competitiveness of its industrial sector as part of its economic diversification strategy. We believe now is the time to build on the nationwide and international momentum of the sector. If you are a passionate founder with strong fundamentals, unique value proposition and a competitive edge in technology, let us know so we can help you reach the next level of development. Let us remove hurdles and redefine productivity together.
We invite you to join us and grow more today. Reach out to our investment team today.
