SMARTEX.AI

Smartex provides hardware-enabled software for the textile industry, using artificial intelligence and computer vision to automate the inspection process. The company was founded in 2018 by Gilberto Loureiro, Antonio Rocha, and Paulo Ribeiro. Loureiro, the CEO, was inspired by his early-career experience as a manual fabric inspector in his native Portugal, a role he found tedious and inefficient. This first-hand knowledge of the industry's challenges, combined with his studies in physics and computer science, drove the creation of a technological solution to a long-standing problem. The firm's core business revolves around reducing waste, costs, and environmental impact for textile manufacturers. It operates on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. The company’s system is designed to be retrofitted onto existing circular knitting machines, a market of approximately 300,000 units worldwide. By installing high-performance cameras and sensors directly onto production machinery, Smartex's AI algorithms detect defects in real-time, automatically halting production to prevent waste at the source. This process saves manufacturers significant costs related to fabric, water, energy, and production time. Smartex offers a suite of products, including Smartex CORE for machine-level defect detection and Smartex LOOP, a platform that provides fabric-roll level data to enhance supply chain transparency for fashion brands. These tools enable real-time factory supervision, data analysis on machinery and roll production, and the implementation of uniform quality standards. The system provides a rapid return on investment, with payback periods estimated between nine and 18 months. Smartex has attracted significant investment, securing a $2.9M seed round in 2019 and a $24.7M Series A round in 2022. Key investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, iPod co-inventor Tony Fadell's Build Collective, H&M Group, and Fashion for Good. The company's clients produce fabrics for major fashion brands such as Gucci, Balenciaga, Tommy Hilfiger, and Calvin Klein. With a presence in Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa, Smartex is focused on strategic expansion into key textile manufacturing hubs. Keywords: textile manufacturing, quality control, AI defect detection, computer vision, hardware-enabled software, sustainable textiles, supply chain transparency, knitting machines, textile industry 4.0, fabric inspection, waste reduction, manufacturing efficiency, Gilberto Loureiro, Lightspeed Venture Partners, H&M Group, textile technology, production optimization, real-time monitoring, digital traceability, cleantech, SaaS