Founder In Residence, Manufacturing AI

About Marble Marble is a climate tech venture studio. We partner with scientists, engineers, and operators to create companies solving hard climate problems in the world's largest industries. Our first 10 companies are building transformative products across energy, industry, agriculture, and climate resilience. 100% have been successful in raising follow-on to date. We are looking to partner with exceptional individuals to create our next venture.
Bringing intelligence to textiles Global manufacturing faces growing pressure to reduce waste and emissions while improving productivity -especially across under-digitised sectors like textiles and food. The limits of traditional ERP and MES systems are becoming increasingly apparent. While large players invest in smart factories and AI tooling, 99% of manufacturing firms in the EU are SMEs, and they remain structurally underserved. In the fashion sector alone, overproduction, process inefficiencies, and limited visibility into material flows cost $70–140 billion in lost sales annually. In the EU, more than 5 million tonnes of garments are discarded each year, with less than 1% recycled. AI has the potential to dramatically reduce material waste, improve forecasting, and cut emissions - but most existing solutions are either too expensive or simply not built for the SME context. That's where the opportunity lies: to develop an AI-driven material optimization platform tailored for SMEs. Starting with textiles, the solution must combine retrofit-friendly data capture, lightweight edge AI-agentic models, and decision support tools that operators can trust. If successful, this approach could scale into a sector-agnostic platform to optimize yield, cost, and carbon intensity across global manufacturing. We have secured partners across the textile manufacturing supply chain in India that will provide us with the data and expertise for us to pilot our AI agents with. During the piloting phase, you'll have direct access to the factory floor and operations, allowing you to gain deep, firsthand insight into the production processes and identify opportunities for optimization.
The Opportunity We're building the future of agentic AI for the overlooked majority of the global manufacturing economy: small and mid-sized factories that form the backbone of sectors like textiles, food, and light industry. We are particularly excited by opportunities to:Retrofit legacy equipment with plug-and-play sensors, vision systems, low-cost edge devices, and standard protocols (OPC-UA, MQTT)Build structured data layers from fragmented inputs (sensors, HMI/SCADA, MES) without requiring smart factoriesDevelop lightweight, agentic AI models that run on local servers that store data intelligence, optimise material yield, machine throughput, and planning in real timeCreate cross-agent intelligence, where process-specific AI agents feed into a coordinated, learning systemDesign operator-facing tools that increase trust and adoption—no black boxes, just clear cost and waste savingsUnlock new business models with performance-based pricing (SMEs win when they save) This is a systems problem, but the wedge is clear: start in textiles, where material waste is systemic, regulation is rising, and digital infrastructure is fragmented but present. From there, we'll expand across verticals and regions. **Apply Here** or see the Programme Structure
Skills & Profile We're looking for a technical founder, either working inside manufacturing environments or building agentic AI, who's excited to build a venture at the intersection of AI, manufacturing, and climate. You might have built with industrial data before, deployed AI in tough environments, or seen the inside of real-world production lines and want to fix them. Bonus points if you've worked directly with SMEs. You could come from:Full-stack or data engineering connecting fragmented systems, real-time pipelines, and operator-facing insights—ideally in low-digital-maturity settings like textiles.AI/ML engineering with edge models, agent systems, control/simulation, and time-series—applied in waste reduction, process optimization and operator-in-the-loop contexts.Industrial automation / IoT / systems engineering focused on sensor retrofits, embedded systems, and edge compute—especially in SME factories.Process, industrial, and systems engineering for line optimization using unified namespace/contextual models.Important: you must be willing to travel to India (among other places) to stay for short periods to work on the ground with the manufacturing supply chain clients we have secured for this MVP development. Marble will cover travel costs. Your mission: take the early vision we've developed and drive it forward - exploring product wedges, building MVP through pilots with textile SMEs, validating with users, and shaping the foundation of a venture that could scale across thousands of factories and deliver deep carbon and cost savings. We encourage you to apply even if you don't feel you meet all requirements. Above all, we value intelligence, creativity and Founder Potential. Especially if you recognise yourself below:You can't wait to start your own company (or your next one)You are a pragmatic optimist on a mission to tackle climate changeYou are outcome focused and action oriented - you make things happenYou are a great communicator - you can convince others to follow youYou love to break down ambitious goals into actionable milestonesYou understand that innovation starts with people - not ideasWhat We Offer As a Founder-in-Residence, you will join other stellar individuals who also believe in the need for deep tech solutions to solve hard climate problems. Together, we would be scoping high potential approaches before converging on the most promising one and finding your future co-founders We offer (among other things)A €2,500 to €3,000 monthly allowance during the programmeA €250,000 pre-seed investment on startup creation if you're successful. You and your team will own 80% of the company at pre-seed.Full-stack support in our venture creation programmeMentorship and guidance at every step of the wayHands on support across technology and market research, landing interviews with experts and customers, techno economics, roadmap and scale up strategy, IP strategy, team building, advisor sourcing, and moreAccess to an unparalleled network across science, industry, talent, investors, mentors, climate tech founders, curated vendors and suppliersAccess to our research insights, knowledge base and founder resourcesWeekly check-ins, work sessions in our Paris HQ (or remote) and continuous peer learning with other programme participantsSeed Fundraising support after the programme. Introductions to the best seed investors from our network and help with term sheet negotiation.Founder Visa sponsorship** if you wish to relocate to France. Remote participation is possible, preferably from Europe and with regular in-person meetings.
How to Apply We are looking for the best candidate - so you are welcome to apply as soon as possible. Apply Here or see the Programme Structure We believe that a diverse group of minds is key to solving the climate crisis. We encourage women and people of colour to apply. Studies have shown that under-represented candidates are less likely to apply for an opportunity unless they feel they meet every single qualification. We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and mission-driven cohort. If you're excited about the programme but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with what you read on our website, we encourage you to apply anyways
FAQs For a full list of FAQs, please visit our website.

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