Industrial wearables provider ProGlove raised $40 million investment from global growth equity firm Summit Partners. The company plans to leverage this funding to expand its international footprint and support its mission to connect the human workforce with the industrial Internet of Things (IoT). In April, WT | Wearable Technologies reported on ProGlove’s state-of-the-art handsfree barcode scanner, Mark 2.
ProGlove was founded in Munich, Germany in 2014. The company offers a scanner glove designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of scanning processes used across the manufacturing, logistics, transportation and ecommerce/retail sectors. ProGlove’s products are integrated into the factory and warehouse floor processes at some of the world’s most renowned brands including Audi, BMW, Bosch, Daimler, DHL and Lufthansa Technik.
The company’s smart glove provides an ergonomic, hands-free barcode scanning solution that helps workers increase productivity and optimize workflow. While traditional handheld scanners tend to be unwieldy and bulky, the small form factor, lightweight, wearable design of ProGlove’s scanner unit allows users to reduce scanning time by up to 4 seconds per scan. In a warehouse or on a factory floor, this reduction represents an improvement in scanning efficiency of as much as 50 percent for some ProGlove customers. Additionally, the company’s smart glove provides direct feedback to the user via optical, haptic and acoustic signals, helping to eliminate mistakes and improve overall process quality, the company said in a press release.
“Organizations seeking to maintain a competitive edge in the era of Industry 4.0 must rethink and reinvent the way in which humans and machines interact. Wearable devices acknowledge the importance of enabling a smarter, more effective worker in the industrial IoT environment,” said Andreas Koenig, CEO of ProGlove. “Industrial wearables define the future of assembly, production and logistics processes. Our smart wearables are designed to function as a natural extension of the workers’ tools, strengthening the role of the human in today’s automated world.”
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ProGlove started its operations in 2014 right after it earned recognition in “Make It Wearable” contest by Intel. The company began commercializing its scanner glove in 2016 and quickly amassed a number of industry accolades and an impressive roster of customers. Today, the company operates on a global scale, serving more than 500 customers around the world from its offices in Munich, Germany and Chicago, Illinois. ProGlove employs 160 people from over 40 countries at its two sites in Munich and Chicago.
