INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
infrastructure, and to bring back businesses, which had moved or outsourced some or all of their industrial operations to cheaper countries
farther away.But that is easier said than done
In the key area of precision manufacturing, for example, most countries in the West are not set up to handle the current production demands
This is the challenge Isembard aims to address
The British startup said it plans to create a network of factories across several Western locations
CEO Alexander Fitzgerald told A Technology NewsRoom that the first of these started to operate in London in January, and claims that it can
already respond to requests for high-precision parts
It has yet to disclose further locations.The aim here is to target companies that may not be sinking billions of capex into their own
factories, but typically would have contracted with a manufacturer to produce on their behalf
And then we machine that part out of whatever material is required, and we ship it to you
same request to a factory in Asia, but it aligns with the rising demand for more local, resilient, and greener supply chains
Fitzgerald believes that British legacy suppliers will struggle to keep pace with the bigger reshoring swing: Supply chains are fragmented,
chains moving to China and other countries over past years
By leveraging software and automation, Isembard believes it can offer a viable alternative to the current state of affairs, while also
million) led by Notion Capital, with participation from 201 Ventures, Basis Capital, Forward Fund, Material Ventures, Neverlift Ventures,
go-to-market strategy initially focuses on aerospace, defense, and energy
Fitzgerald declined to name clients, but he said the company saw most of its initial traction come from defense and fast-growing startups
He claimed that he and his team are also having conversations with primes and government bodies.With just 12 employees, Isembard is still
layer, Isembard is very much an engineering-focused company
With a minor spelling tweak due to the original already being in use, its name is a nod to British industrialist and engineer Isambard
Kingdom Brunel, known for his work during the Industrial Revolution
and Europe, potentially up to North America, Australia, and New Zealand
