Vention

Vention is a Canadian automation company whose platform combines engineering software and plug-and-play automation components. It supplies parts, designs hardware, and provides e-commerce and 3-D computer-aided design (CAD) software. Vention is headquartered in Montreal, Canada, and has offices in Berlin, Germany, and Boston, Massachusetts.

Clients
Vention's customers include engineers at more than 3,000 factories owned by companies such as Toyota, General Electric, Tesla, Siemens, and Airbus, as well as Google, Amazon, Boeing and Lockheed. Customers create, design and order custom equipment on Vention's online platform to be used in their production lines, including test benches, robot work stations and assembly lines. The company launched code-free robot programming tools to let users program their robot in the cloud, order the entire robot cell, and deploy it on their manufacturing floor.

History
In 2016, Vention was founded in Montreal, Canada by Etienne Lacroix, a former General Electric Co. product manager and McKinsey consultant, and Max Windisch.

In 2017, Vention raised $3.5M USD with support from White Star Capital, Bolt, and Real Ventures. In the same year, Vention announced the beta launch of its 3D CAD software - MachineBuilder.

Vention launched its MachineMotion controller and MachineApps to create a plug-and-play approach when programming equipment motions in 2018. The following year, Vention raised $13M USD in Series A funding, led by Bain Capital Ventures. In the same year, Vention launched MachineLogic, a code-free environment to program, simulate, and deploy industrial automation sequences.

Vention raised $30M USD in Series B funding in 2020, led by Georgian Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, and White Star Capital. Vention opened an EMEA office in Berlin, Germany in 2021 to provide assistance to manufacturers on both sides of the Atlantic. In the same year, Vention announced alliances with FANUC, OnRobot, and Universal Robots.

In 2022, Vention raised over $95M USD in Series C financing, led by Georgian and Fidelity, and opened a new office in Boston, Massachusetts. In the same year, Vention launched MachineCloud, software for assisted industrial automation deployment.

Vention opened a new distribution center in Montreal, Canada in 2023 with over 70,000 sq feet to assemble, test, package, and ship all North American orders. In the same year, Vention opened its Vention Experience Center, a training and development center in its Montreal headquarters, to train automation practitioners.