MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Schleswig-Holstein and several business angels have invested in Hamburg-based AI startup PANDA. The exact amount was not disclosed. PANDA was able to close its first large financing round back in 2019, at that time in the amount of 1.3 million euros.
© PANDA: Ingo Kaiser (CEO) and Florian Ellerkamp (CFO/COO)
A faulty pump at university led to the founding of PANDA
The story begins in 2016 in the pump room at Helmut Schmidt University (HSU). A fire broke out there over the weekend, which might have been prevented if suspicious noises at the pump had been correctly interpreted in advance. A team from the Institute for Machine Elements and Computer-aided Product Development at HSU came up with the idea of developing a system to detect anomalies in industrial production at an early stage and thus avoid machine failures.
In 2017, this gave rise to the startup PANDA. According to its own description, its mission is to "enable the global industrial landscape to use artificial intelligence on edge devices to continuously improve industrial production in terms of efficiency and effectiveness."
It goes on to say, "In the industrial world, intelligent algorithms need to adapt to the very specific environments of machines and factories, which is why we at PANDA have decided to provide an industrial data infrastructure with our business model. It is this infrastructure, consisting of hardware and software modules, that allows both AI users and AI providers to take advantage of artificial intelligence and focus on their own core competencies."
Of the original founding trio, mechanical engineer Ingo Kaiser is still on board as CEO. With the fresh money, he and his team plan to maintain the profitable company's growth trajectory and push new customer business. On its website, PANDA lists major companies such as Daimler and Jungheinrich as reference customers.
