Pico MES closes USD 12.35 million Series A led by Bosch Ventures

Stuttgart, Germany – Bosch Ventures, the corporate venture capital company of the Bosch Group, has completed an investment in Pico MES. Pico MES, a manufacturing execution system (MES) software company focused on small and mid-size manufacturers, raised USD 12.35 million in a Series A funding round led by Bosch Ventures and joined by new investors, including Counterpart Ventures and Momenta Ventures. Previous investors Congruent Ventures, Union Labs, Schneider Electric Ventures and Lemnos also participated in the round.

Pico is on a mission to connect the entire supply chain and brings transparency to all participants in the production supply chain. The company has developed a software solution which allows medium-sized manufacturers to operate more efficiently, unlock latent capacity, minimize errors, and make informed business decisions based on detailed production floor data. Ingo Ramesohl, Managing Director of Bosch Ventures reinforces this statement sharing that “Bosch has a large network of suppliers and like many enterprises drives towards increased transparency in the deeper supply chains. Pico MES emerges as the catalytic force and has the potential to set new standards for transparency, collaboration, and operational excellence for all stakeholders within this ecosystem.”

Holistic data enables a connected supply chain for improved operations

The software developed by Pico MES is designed to help factories improve their operations. With the current infrastructure and little or no digitization in medium-sized factories, it is challenging to keep up with the demands, handle flexibility of volumes, and operate efficiently at full capacity while dealing with a limited availability of workers. Pico’s software solution is focused on discrete manufacturing utilizing a no-code library of integrations to connected tools, machines, and devices to collect manufacturing data that can be viewed on each level and across connected supply chains. The software streamlines the onboarding process, enabling customers to start using the software quickly, often within a day. It provides a pre-built library of tools and machine integrations, minimizing the need for software engineers to set up the system and drastically reducing upfront costs to a minimum. Ryan Kuhlenbeck, CEO of Pico MES says: "Pico MES not only dramatically improves a midsize factories’ operation, but then can connect these smaller factories with their OEM customers, enabling visibility up and down the supply chain and creating a new level of efficiency gains for all. The investment by global company like Bosch underlines the importance of transparent data exchange across the supply chain to enhance efficiency.”

Pico MES comes to the market in perfect timing when an agile and modern MES solution is needed more than ever. According to the latest Deloitte report, 62% of U.S. manufacturers already started reshoring or near-shoring production capacities. Census Bureau data shows that spending on new manufacturing facilities in the U.S. reached a record USD 108 billion in 2022. Given the efforts to revive manufacturing in the U.S., solutions like Pico MES become particularly valuable.