Berlin-based CERPRO has secured roughly €2 million in pre-seed funding to advance AI-first quality assurance for European manufacturing. The company positions its software as a way to standardize and automate inspection workflows that are still largely manual in many factories. The goal is to cut through documentation bottlenecks, reduce errors, and preserve high-precision production in core industries.
Funding Details
The round was led by seed+speed Ventures with D11Z Ventures as co-lead, joined by EIT Manufacturing and Techstars. CERPRO says the capital will accelerate product development, expand sales, and scale partnerships across Europe. The company aims to establish a standardized, legally compliant quality workflow that links OEMs and suppliers throughout the supply chain.
The Manufacturing Bottleneck
Engineering, quality assurance, and production often operate in silos, which slows decisions and obscures accountability. Documentation for incoming inspection and quality control is commonly compiled in paper binders or Excel, creating months-long backlogs. With labor shortages, rising costs, and tighter standards, manufacturers need automated, measurable processes that withstand audits and scale across facilities.
Product and Use Case
Founded in 2023 by Frederik Frei, Sascha Müller, and Henrik Pitz, CERPRO is building an intelligent platform to streamline quality operations. Its first product, QualiSpec, automatically detects, interprets, and structures features from technical drawings to generate digital inspection plans in minutes. By removing manual extraction work, the software helps teams deploy consistent inspection criteria and track results more reliably.
Early Traction
Since launching in December 2024, CERPRO reports adoption by more than 100 small and mid-sized manufacturers in aerospace, medical devices, and mechanical engineering. Customers have cited more than 80 percent faster quality processes, fewer documentation errors, and implementation timelines measured in days. Early users include firms such as RMM Metallbearbeitung, SAB Technology, Hänssler Kunststoff- und Dichtungstechnik, JELBA Werkzeug und Maschinenbau, and KLT Hummel Plastic.
Technology Roadmap
CERPRO is extending its AI from inspection into design and engineering so potential issues can be flagged earlier in product development. The aim is to shift teams from reactive checks on the shop floor to predictive quality decisions that prevent nonconformities before production starts. The roadmap also connects quality data across OEMs and suppliers to create shared transparency and traceability.
Team and Mission
Alongside co-founders Frei, Müller, and Pitz, the company highlights the addition of Dr. Jan Gudat to its leadership ranks. Management frames its mission as “AI-first quality acceleration,” arguing that intuitive automation lowers adoption barriers for quality teams and returns time to manufacturing, precision, and innovation. Backers view the effort as a step toward reinforcing European competitiveness in high-spec production.
CERPRO’s pre-seed round gives the startup room to mature its core model, deepen design-for-manufacture capabilities, and pursue a broader European footprint. If the company sustains reported speed and error-reduction gains at scale, it could set a new baseline for how technical drawings become actionable inspection plans. For manufacturers facing skills gaps and compliance pressure, a unified, data-rich quality layer may be the difference between surviving and leading.