factorymaker wins Female Entrepreneur Prize at the Austrian Gründungspreis PHÖNIX 2026
factorymaker was nominated in two categories at this year’s Gründungspreis PHÖNIX – Spin-off and Female Entrepreneurs – and was awarded the Female Entrepreneur Prize in the ceremony on 12th March. The PHÖNIX is Austria’s national startup award, organised by the Federal Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism (BMWET), the Federal Ministry for Women, Science and Research (BMFWF), Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws), the FFG Austrian Research Promotion Agency, and the Federation of Austrian Industries. The Female Entrepreneurs category recognises women-led startups driving innovation in Austria. We’re are incredibly honoured by the recognition. It belongs to our co-founders and to the entire factorymaker team, who are building the future of industrial facility planning every day. Congratulations to our fellow nominees in the Female Entrepreneurs category, royos joining solutions GmbH and LOCI Design, and to all the 2026 category winners: Moldsonics (Spin-off), imd BIOTECH GmbH (Prototype), and voidsy gmbh (Start-up). Thank you to the organisers, the expert jury, and everyone who made the evening possible. More about the prize here: Gründungspreis PHÖNIX. Press coverage: brutkasten, TrendingTopics, der Standard.
factorymaker joins NVIDIA Inception Program
factorymaker has joined NVIDIA Inception, NVIDIA’s program for startups building with AI. Inception supports AI startups from prototype to production, helping them discover new AI opportunities, build with world-class technologies, and grow their business. The program brings together AI startups across industries, from robotics and healthcare to industrial automation, into a shared ecosystem backed by NVIDIA’s platform, developer tools, and global network. Members include companies like ANYbotics, Moon Surgical, Sana, and Emerald AI. More about the program here: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/startups/
factorymaker raises €1.1 million to transform industrial facility planning with AI
factorymaker has closed a €1.1 million pre-seed round to accelerate the development of its AI-powered platform for industrial facility and production layout planning. The round was led by Berlin-based 2bX and joined by XISTA Science Ventures, closing in January 2026. The investment comes at a pivotal moment. European manufacturers are under growing pressure to build and adapt facilities for Industry 4.0, the green transition and reshoring, and traditional planning methods simply cannot keep pace. The problem factorymaker is solving Conventional industrial facility planning is slow, complex, and error-prone. Manually drafting a single factory floor layout costs on average €70,000 and requires 100 workdays, making it impractical to adapt layouts to changing demands. Siloed workstreams and fragmented tools add further complexity, leading to costly planning errors down the line. Minutes instead of weeks Using AI-powered design agents and a proprietary database of real-world projects, factorymaker automates design work that typically takes weeks. Where industrial planners could previously explore only two or three design variants for a layout, the platform evaluates and ranks 100,000 options in minutes, allowing planners to choose the best-performing ones and removing a major barrier to replanning. Each design variant is assessed across cost, workflow efficiency, and environmental impact. The platform is used throughout the facility lifecycle, from conceptual planning to ongoing factory layout adaptations. Clients report 82% less planning time, 21% lower building costs, 36% reduced material transport flow, and significant carbon footprint reductions. The platform is already used by industrial enterprises, including Siemens Energy, Schaeffler, and Hilti. The right partners for the journey ahead factorymaker is grateful to have found investors who share its vision for the future of industrial planning. “The response from leading investment funds underscores the urgency of transforming industrial facility and production layout planning through automation,” said Maria Zahlbruckner, co-founder of factorymaker. “We were in the lucky position to choose the best partners for us.” Mark Harré, General Partner at 2bX, noted: “Industrial facility planning is a multi-billion euro market that still runs largely on manual processes – for us, that signals a massive opportunity for disruption. Maria and Julia bring a rare combination of deep domain expertise and product vision, they’re building the platform this industry has been waiting for.” Dr. Annu Gmeiner, Principal at XISTA Science Ventures, added: “Planning and replanning industrial buildings and production layouts is a manual, labor-intensive process where, according to various sources, 90% of project errors originate, leading to billions in annual rework costs. factorymaker addresses this through Automated Design Agents and Integrated Optimization for both new builds and existing facility adaptation. The platform’s use by industry leaders like Siemens Energy, Hilti, and Schaeffler validates the urgent need for this technology. We’re excited to partner with exceptional co-founders Maria and Julia as they transform industrial facility planning.” The funding will be used to accelerate factorymaker’s market expansion and product development. “We’re able to scale at a critical moment,” said Dr. Julia Reisinger, co-founder of factorymaker. “European manufacturers face unprecedented pressure to build and adapt their facilities due to shifting pressures and demands. Traditional planning methods can’t keep up. That’s the bottleneck we’re solving.” —- About 2bX 2bX is a Berlin-based venture capital firm investing in early-stage UrbanTech and deep-tech companies across Europe. About XISTA Science Ventures XISTA Science Ventures is an Austria-based venture fund investing in early-stage life science and deeptech startups across Europe. With a deep understanding of both scientific and investor perspectives, XISTA is an active partner to its portfolio companies, providing support for founders in realizing deep-tech ideas and scaling enterprises. The fund’s diverse portfolio spans the full breadth of science, in fields such as biotechnology, medtech, materials science and software. XISTA is embedded in the innovation system around the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). About factorymaker factorymaker began as a research project by Dr. Julia Reisinger at TU Wien in 2020. Founded in 2024, factorymaker is an AI-powered platform for industrial facility and production layout planning. The company serves industrial enterprises and consultancies across Europe in greenfield and brownfield projects. Its co-founders are Maria Zahlbruckner and Dr. Julia Reisinger, and its CTO is Leonardo Lino.
factorymaker wins 3rd place at Innovation World Cup
factorymaker was awarded 3rd place and the public vote at the Smart Building Smart Construction Innovation World Cup at BIM World MUNICH 2025. The competition brought together startups driving innovation in construction and the built environment. The recognition reflects both the problem and the potential in how industrial capacities are planned, and acknowledges our work to transform this space. Thank you to the factorymaker team for making this happen! Congratulations to VESTIGAS, who took 1st place, and to Optocycle, who took 2nd place, as well as to all the startups competing at Innovation World Cup. We’re grateful to Innovation World Cup and BIM World MUNICH for the recognition and genuinely helpful feedback, and thank you to everyone who supported us with their votes!
BIM World Munich 2025
See you at BIM World MUNICH 2025 We’re heading to the International Congress Center Munich on 26-27 November 2025 to join the leaders driving digitalisation in construction and the built environment. factorymaker will be taking the stage twice during the event to share how AI-powered planning is transforming industrial facility design: Innovation World Cup Pitch Innovation Stage | 26 November at 3:30 PM BIM Town Pitch Innovation Stage | 27 November at 1:55 PM Whether you’re exploring integrated planning solutions for industrial facilities, looking to optimise your manufacturing assets, or simply want to continue the conversation after our pitches, we’d love to connect. Find us at BIM Town – booth 20. Drop us a message and we’ll arrange a time to meet. Coffee’s on us.
factorymaker recognised among Austria’s leading startups
factorymaker has been ranked 27th in the GEWINN Jungunternehmer:innen-Wettbewerb 2025, placing us among Austria’s top startups. The award celebrates entrepreneurs who combine technological depth, resilient business models and long-term impact across the Austrian economy. We’re grateful to GEWINN, VERBUND and the jury for the recognition and for shining a spotlight on ambitious founders. Congratulations to all startups honoured this year. We’re proud to contribute to a strong and growing ecosystem with our AI-powered approach to industrial planning. Learn more about the competition here. Full rankings are listed below.
Maria Zahlbruckner speaks at Green Peak Festival Vienna
factorymaker joined Green Peak Festival at Erste Campus, Vienna, where leaders from business, policy and tech met to tackle climate action. factorymaker co-founder Maria Zahlbruckner spoke about bringing climate targets into day-one planning for industrial buildings, linking decarbonisation goals with early design choices.
factorymaker wins at BEGIS BIM Awards
At BIM-Dialog trifft Innovation in Düsseldorf, factorymaker took 3rd place at the BEGIS BIM Awards. The awards recognise practical, forward-looking BIM applications across the AEC ecosystem. Maria Antonia Zahlbruckner represented factorymaker, highlighting our work at the intersection of digital planning and industrial building projects. Read more about the event here.
If It Works in the Lab, It Can Work in the World! factorymaker at ViennaUP
factorymaker participated at a ViennaUP session where the initiatives The Spinoff Factory and Noctua Science Ventures were presented. Participants—including founders and researchers—discussed how research is translated into ventures and industry pilots. factorymaker co-founder Julia Reisinger contributed to the exchange on bridging research and practice.
BuiltWorld Webinar: Modelling & Simulation in Factory Planning
factorymaker took part in the BuiltWorld webinar “Modelling & Simulation: Computer-Aided Factory Planning” (Computergestützte Fabrikplanung), which focused on how digital methods are reshaping industrial building projects. The session explored the role of modelling and simulation in factory planning, the benefits of digital twins, and how new tools can improve efficiency and sustainability in construction. More details about the event can be found here: BuiltWorld – Modelling & Simulation: Computer-Aided Factory Planning