Flexciton, an artificial intelligence-driven technology which speeds up production line planning and scheduling, has raised £2.5 million in venture capital.

The AI technology says it speeds up decision making by up to 30x faster and aims to be part of every manufacturing process in the world – a vast potential market.

The London-based company already works with clients across food, textiles, semiconductor and automotive industries since its launch 18 months ago.

Backed VC led the £2.5 million funding round, with JOIN Capital and Entrepreneur First also participating.

Flexciton says that because people do most day-to-day planning on production lines, the sheer complexity of the problem means manufacturers are running their facilities inefficiently. Its technology makes production decisions in minutes. The company claims that any manufacturing site would automatically see a 10 per cent increase in efficiency using its technology.

Between them, the Flexciton team has published over 140 peer-reviewed academic papers, all of which focus on the practical application of this technology in eight different industrial use cases. Flexciton’s senior senior scientist, Dr Giorgos Kopanos, has published a book on the topic.

Jamie Potter, CEO and co-founder of Flexciton, said: “I’m really excited to have closed this round because it represents the tremendous progress we have made here at Flexciton, and the incredible trajectory we are on. Over the past year we’ve experienced extremely high demand for our technology, and our clients include some of the most advanced manufacturers in the world.”

Alex Brunicki, partner of Backed VC, said: “Jamie and his team have ambitious plans to transform manufacturing and their beachhead product, which lies at the heart of planning and scheduling, positions them effectively to grow their sphere of influence right across the factory. The team have commercialised faster than any Industry 4.0 company we have seen to date, so it is hugely exciting to continue our support in a much more material way.”