CERPRO Raises €2M Pre‑Seed to Automate Quality Assurance in Manufacturing with AI
CERPRO, a Berlin‑based industrial AI startup focused on transforming quality assurance in manufacturing, has successfully raised €2 million in a pre‑Seed funding round to accelerate development of its intelligent software platform, expand sales operations and scale its presence across European markets. The company, which was founded in 2023 by Frederik Frei, Sascha Müller and Henrik Pitz, is developing an AI‑powered solution designed to automate and standardise quality assurance workflows that have traditionally relied on manual processes and disconnected systems.
The pre‑Seed round was led by seed + speed Ventures, a Berlin‑based venture capital firm focused on early‑stage software and AI startups in the DACH region, with D11Z serving as co‑lead investor. Participation also came from EIT Manufacturing, a network linking industrial leaders with innovation projects across Europe, and Techstars, the global startup accelerator that supports early‑stage founders.
CERPRO’s flagship product, QualiSpec, leverages artificial intelligence to automatically interpret complex technical drawings — a task that has traditionally consumed significant engineer time and been prone to human error — and translate them into structured digital inspection plans. By digitising and automating the creation of quality checklists and inspection documentation, the platform reduces the reliance on manual processes like paper forms or Excel spreadsheets, which are common in many factories and contribute to inefficiencies and delays. Since its commercial debut, QualiSpec has been adopted by more than 100 companies across five European countries, particularly in industries with stringent quality requirements such as aerospace, medical devices and mechanical engineering. Users report accelerated quality assurance processes — in some cases by up to 80 percent — and noticeable improvements in consistency and traceability of inspection outcomes.
According to CERPRO leadership, quality assurance remains one of the most documentation‑heavy and error‑sensitive parts of modern manufacturing, and up to 30 percent of production issues can be traced back to poorly specified or misinterpreted technical drawings. The company’s approach aims not only to speed up inspection workflows but also to create a shared, searchable data foundation that connects original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their suppliers, improving transparency across the supply chain and helping stakeholders work off a unified quality baseline.
The €2 million pre‑Seed funding will be used to further enhance CERPRO’s AI models and software capabilities, expand its customer‑facing teams, and deepen its commercial footprint across key European manufacturing hubs. The company plans to strengthen sales and partnerships while also investing in features that extend AI’s role from inspection planning into earlier stages of product design and engineering. By embedding predictive quality insights earlier in development cycles, CERPRO aims to help teams identify and resolve potential issues before they manifest on the factory floor.
Investors backing CERPRO cited the company’s unique position at the intersection of industrial automation and artificial intelligence as a key reason for their support. seed + speed Ventures has a track record of investing in high‑growth enterprise software startups, and its lead role in the round signals confidence in CERPRO’s ability to scale its platform within the broader context of digital transformation in manufacturing. D11Z’s co‑lead involvement, alongside strategic organisations such as EIT Manufacturing and the global accelerator Techstars, underscores a shared belief in the increasing importance of AI solutions that address real‑world industrial challenges.
The funding also reflects broader trends in the European tech ecosystem, where investors are increasingly backing startups that apply machine intelligence to core industrial processes, including inspection, quality management, and supply chain optimisation. As manufacturers contend with labour shortages, rising quality standards and competitive pressures, tools that streamline workflows and deliver measurable efficiency gains are gaining momentum. CERPRO’s mission to standardise quality processes and reduce bottlenecks aligns with this shift, as digital tools continue to reshape how production environments operate.
With its pre‑Seed round secured and a growing base of early adopters, CERPRO is positioned to build on its initial traction and deliver enterprise‑grade quality assurance solutions that help manufacturing companies reduce errors, speed up cycles and maintain compliance in increasingly complex production environments. The company’s vision of a connected quality data network — spanning OEMs and suppliers — reflects a long‑term ambition to set new standards for how quality is managed in modern industrial operations.
