Encube, backed by investors including Kinnevik, Inventure and Promus Ventures, helps industrial companies shorten lead times, avoid costly design mistakes and accelerate time-to-market. The company’s platform aims to transform hardware development and strengthen Europe’s industrial competitiveness by combining AI and engineering in a modern digital ecosystem.
Encube has secured SEK 215 million in new funding to expand across Europe and speed up development of its AI-driven platform. The solution has already been piloted by global industrial firms such as Volvo Group, Beyond Gravity and Scania, enabling development teams to identify early which design choices could cause manufacturing issues—and how to prevent them. The result: shorter lead times, lower production costs and greater capacity for innovation.
A new era for hardware development
“Developing hardware is about balancing how a product should work, how it should look and what it should cost to manufacture. In Europe we are strong in the first two areas, but our manufacturing know-how is eroding. We founded Encube to change that,” says Hugo Nordell, CEO and co‑founder of Encube.
Ralf Usinger, Global Head of Engineering Applications at Beyond Gravity, describes Encube as a major leap forward:
“Encube is one of the most significant advances in hardware development I’ve seen in over 30 years. The software’s ease of use and the speed of the simulations represent a big step forward.”
Industry in transition
The manufacturing sector faces three major structural shifts:
- Geopolitical changes that demand increased European self‑reliance.
- Skills shortages as a generation of experienced engineers retires.
- Tighter environmental regulations that require more sustainable production and better decision support.
At the same time, decades of know‑how are disappearing as older workers leave the industry. Solutions like Encube therefore become especially important.
“We are facing a generational shift in our manufacturing, and it is hard to replace the experience that will soon be gone. Encube lets us manage that risk before it’s too late,” says Jonas Hellman Peterson, Head of Sales Engineering, Birn Group.
AI and digital intelligence in product development
New EU environmental legislation and increased climate reporting requirements demand greater transparency and efficiency in manufacturing. Encube enables companies to embed sustainability and cost control already in the design phase. Research shows that up to 80% of production costs are determined during design—long before manufacturing begins. Using AI, Encube can simulate thousands of scenarios and quickly identify which design decisions are likely to become costly or environmentally inefficient.
“We rely heavily on external partners when we manufacture our robots. With Encube it becomes much easier to identify and reduce risks together with suppliers and customers early in product development,” says Mattias Vanberg, Director of Development, Cognibotics.
Behind Encube
Behind the company are Hugo Nordell, formerly a senior executive at Sandvik and Aker, together with Johnny Bigert, an AI veteran from Skype and Klarna. Since its founding in 2021 their vision has been to help engineering companies make better design decisions earlier—using AI and real‑time data.
Encube’s platform consists of two main parts:
- A collaboration tool where teams can work together on design choices directly in the browser.
- An AI-driven analysis engine that automatically identifies risks, cost drivers and manufacturing issues before production starts.
Results from pilot projects are clear: launch times have been cut in half, production costs reduced by 20–30%, and productivity has doubled.
A European initiative for the future
“AI is driving a major shift in product development. Encube creates the conditions for that shift by integrating manufacturing intelligence directly into product development,” says Tatiana Shalalvand, Investment Director, Kinnevik.
The new SEK 215 million financing will be used to grow in the European market, deepen strategic partnerships and develop new AI features for hardware development.
“We believe Encube has the potential to do for industry what Figma did for web design—to fundamentally change how hardware is developed,” says Adrian Arnsvik Bjurefalk, Principal, Inventure.
Encube is therefore at the center of a crucial shift toward a smarter, more sustainable and more competitive Europe.