Luminovo acquires PCB platform provider Electronic Fellows to develop next-gen software suite

Luminovo, Munich-based software company building products to digitize the electronics value chain, acquires the Wiesbaden-based startup Electronic Fellows.

With the acquisition, the company adds dedicated modules for displaying, analyzing and processing printed circuit boards (PCB) to their product portfolio and consistently pursues its journey towards developing a software suite for the complete process; from designing a new electronic product to bringing it to life.

“With this novel software suite, we support companies with digital and data-driven processes to positively leverage the ever-growing demand for electronic products and innovations. By providing a better overview of sourcing alternatives, uncovering risks and automating manual activities, we achieve fast and adaptable processes. Our long-term goal is to transfer manufacturing knowledge from the end of the value chain to the beginning to help our customers avoid costly mistakes and better meet demand,” explains Luminovo founder
Sebastian Schaal.

He continues, “The acquisition not only brings us a second ready-to-sell product. Sharing features and insights between Electronic Fellows’ product Stackrate and our current flagship LumiQuote also immediately opens up new opportunities for collaboration between companies in the electronics value chain.”

Electronic Fellows founder Florian Herborn adds, “With Stackrate, PCB manufacturers can already generate precise quotes for even complex PCBs in a matter of minutes. Soon, it will also be possible to provide these quotes in real-time via modern API interfaces. Our merger with Luminovo will make these quotation interfaces available to the broad EMS market. In this way, we will contribute a significant step to the interconnectedness of the electronics industry and considerably speed up existing processes.”

Luminovo is focused on EMS providers that cover high-mix-low-volume production. Their central product, LumiQuote, joins, digitizes, and automates the quotation and sourcing processes including material and manufacturing calculations. LumiQuote also simplifies collaboration within EMS providers and with external stakeholders through modules like the BOM Importer and the BOM Digital Twin. These modules automatically organize and turn clients’ BOMs into digital versions, on which team members can collaborate before aligning sourcing options with suppliers or clients. This enables EMS companies that are dealing with high numbers of requests for quotations from diverse customers to complete them faster, offer more competitive prices, and increase their customer satisfaction.

Electronic Fellows is working to simplify the quoting process for PCB manufacturers. The suite of modules developed supports manufacturers throughout the process: from customer management, Gerber data analysis, layer setup and management, to accurate costing and quotation document generation. In combination with the PCBport product, Stackrate’s customers also have the option of calculating prices for selected projects in an automated manner, making quotations available in real-time.

The first items on the agenda of the joint collaboration are the unification and transfer of the two products in order to multiply their added value. PCBport and Stackrate’s PCB analysis and visualization modules will be integrated into LumiQuote. This makes it possible to seamlessly feed queries into Stackrate. Furthermore, this union enables advanced, real-world DfM for connected PCB suppliers.