AI-Blox onboards Smartfin to bring AI to life where it matters most

The Brussels scaleup AI-Blox closed a first funding round. Smartfin, a leading European VC,  is joining the company, which focuses on physical AI solutions to make vehicles, robots, hospitals and public spaces smarter

A lot of AI applications are running on cloud infrastructure as they need massive processing power. Data are captured through sensors, after which it’s being transmitted to a datacenter to perform intensive calculations. “This process is error-prone, while physical AI needs super fast, stable & secure data-transmission as it operates in critical situations. The solution is to process data as close as possible to the source, which is called edge computing, during which the calculations happen on the device itself instead of in the cloud”, says Jeroen Plasman, co-founder of AI-Blox. “The next leap forward in AI will happen on factory floors, in warehouses, on farms, along roads and in cities. Real-world AI – Physical AI – will redefine how we work, produce, move & live.

The Brussels scale-up develops smart computers that are being integrated into autonomous vehicles, robots, factories, hospitals, … AI-Blox delivers the “physical building blox” to develop custom-built computers for clients like the German logistics market leader Kion Group or the Belgian recycling innovator Rematics. “Our technology supports an endless number of use cases”, Plasman continues. “Factories can improve quality control, we can make forklift trucks drive autonomously or make cameras in public spaces smarter. Our modular design provides flexibility at scale, and clients can choose which sensor to gather input from, and where to send the data after processing.

AI-Blox has set its sights on scaling to €100 million in revenue with a team of 100 people. Currently, the company has a team of 17, and thanks to a partnership with Nvidia, it is ready to scale. To fuel this growth, AI-Blox is raising capital from Smartfin, which has previously invested in companies such as Deliverect and Silverfin. finance&invest.brussels and existing shareholder imec.istart are also participating in this funding round.

Plasman: “Eighty percent of our revenue currently comes from the United States, and we haven’t seen any impact from the trade war. In fact, we’ve gained a competitive advantage compared to the tariffs imposed on competitors from other countries. With this investment, we aim to hire more engineers to accelerate our growth.”

In 2020, we encountered the complexities of launching a machine vision project in an underdeveloped hardware landscape. With limited off-the-shelf options available, we were forced to engineer both hardware and software from scratch. The learning curve was steep, the market fragmented, and budgets quickly ballooned. But amidst these challenges, one insight became clear: the future of AI lies at the edge—not in the cloud.

That insight became the foundation of AI-Blox. Since our inception in 2021, AI-Blox has been profitable, growing sustainably by delivering robust, modular computing platforms built for edge AI applications. Our solutions address a growing global demand for low-latency, energy-efficient, and deployable physical AI infrastructure across industries like manufacturing, logistics, and mobility.

We currently have a team of 17 FTE and have the ambition to grow towards a 100 mio € revenue company in the next 5 years.

More info : www.ai-blox.com

Smartfin is a European venture and growth capital investor, managing over €600 million in assets and investing in early and growth stage B2B technology companies. Smartfin has an open-ended investment philosophy and invests throughout Europe and the United Kingdom. Smartfin’s team combines a successful venture capital and private equity investment track-record with extensive operational experience in setting up, building, and managing leading international technology companies which differentiates us as an experienced and entrepreneurial, truly hands-on and value-added partner to our portfolio companies.

More Info: www.smartfinvc.com

finance&invest.brussels is a Brussels public limited company that supports the creation and growth of businesses in the Brussels-Capital Region. It intervenes at strategic moments in their development by facilitating and complementing the financing chain of microenterprises, self-employed workers, start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs through loans, equity investments and guarantees. Its shareholding combines the Brussels-Capital Region, leading financial institutions and major Brussels corporates, ensuring both a strong public anchor and solid private support. The objective: to stimulate the Brussels economy, foster employment and support the transition towards more sustainable and inclusive economic models.

More info : https://finance.brussels/

Imec.istart – imec’s business accelerator – is de eerste investeerder en ondersteunende partner die jouw tech startup helpt op te schalen. Het imec.istart programma biedt een breed scala aan diensten, zoals initiële financiële injectie (100.000 tot 250.000 EUR pre-seed financiering), persoonlijke coaching en mentoring, toegang tot technologie en kantoorfaciliteiten, toegang tot een breed (inter) nationaal netwerk van partners en investeerders en nog veel meer. Sinds de lancering in 2011 hielp imec.istart meer dan 340 tech startups op verschillende gebieden om zich te ontwikkelen tot duurzame ondernemingen. Imec.istart werd verkozen tot ‘werelds’ beste acceleratie programma gelinkt aan een universiteit’ door UBI Global

More info : https://www.imecistart.com/