TRIGO, a leading provider of inspection, consulting and quality engineering services to the transportation industry, owned by the Ardian investment fund, announced on May 6 the acquisition of SCORTEX, a French start-up specialized in AI applied to automated quality control. This operation is in line with the Group’s strategy and enables it to assert its positions in industrial innovation. While it did not reveal the amount of this acquisition, it said it plans to invest five million Euros in the start-up this year and to double its workforce.

TRIGO

Founded in 1997 by Pierre Hervo, TRIGO was the first company to offer operational quality services in France. Today, it operates internationally and provides management and consulting solutions in operational quality for the automotive, aerospace, defense, rail and heavy transport industries.

Present in 25 countries, it has 10,000 employees in 500 locations offering a complete portfolio of services throughout the supply chain, from production line inspection to auditing, consulting, engineering and training. The technological solutions it develops, based on AI, virtual reality and data, are tailored to its customers in the most demanding sectors. The group is owned by Ardian and generates a turnover of €400 million. It plans to recruit 400 technicians and engineers in France this year.

Scortex

Frenchtech Scortex was co-founded by Aymeric de Pontbriand, Nathanael Hania and Serge Zloto in 2016. Its team combines deep expertise in machine learning, computer vision, enterprise software, edge computing and quality management.

Based on deep learning, its automated defect detection and analysis platform enables more accurate identification of defective products in real time whether they are plastics, polymers, metal, wood or packaging, while improving the overall profitability of industrial companies.

Entirely designed, built and maintained by the Scortex team and its partners, the Scortex solution integrates automation, lighting, cameras, hardware, software, IoT and AI capabilities. Stations installed on production lines, in addition to detecting defective parts, collect data and enable production quality analysis via a dashboard.

The acquisition of Scortex

This acquisition, which will bring a complementary technological brick to Trigo, is the logical continuation of a partnership initiated in 2021 to test the relevance of a possible merger or equity investment.

Matthieu Rambaud, CEO of Trigo, states:

“Our objectives were to identify concrete application cases and understand to what extent the solutions developed by Scortex could be complementary to our services.”

This acquisition is an important step in Trigo’s new strategic plan to 2025, which aims to consolidate its leadership in inspection and supply chain activities, notably by accelerating its diversification into the aerospace, defense, rail and heavy transportation sectors, by strengthening its consulting activities with major manufacturers and equipment suppliers, and by innovating in technological solutions. For this last objective, TRIGO will rely on developments in the fields of AI, data mining, automation and augmented reality.

Scortex founder and CEO Aymeric de Pontbriand states:

“With TRIGO on board, we gain an ability to scale our technologies globally. I am proud that Scortex is now part of the TRIGO family, as we share a common vision of the developments and needs of tomorrow’s industry. With our solutions and technology, our ambition is to be a key player in Industry 4.0 worldwide. We will accelerate our strategy of digitizing quality management, which enables a better use of resources by our manufacturers.”

As part of this acquisition, TRIGO will make available, its sales network, strongly established internationally, its operational teams and its financing capacity. For its part, SCORTEX will bring a proven and recognized capacity for innovation in AI and automated vision.

Matthieu Rambaud, CEO of TRIGO Group, concludes:

“I am very pleased to welcome the SCORTEX team to TRIGO. The quality of their technological solutions, their capacity for innovation and their entrepreneurial spirit fit perfectly with our market vision and our corporate culture. With this merger, we are combining complementary strengths. Together, we will generate significant development synergies to help the industry meet tomorrow’s challenges, improving its performance and profitability with innovative solutions.”

Translated from IA et industrie : Trigo rachète la start-up Scortex spécialiste de l’IA appliquée au contrôle automatisé