This Dutch Startup Just Raised $22.5M to Fix a $655B Manufacturing Nightmare

Jan de Vries · 2026-07-31

Here's a number that might surprise you: over 70% of all defects in printed circuit board assembly trace back to a single step in the manufacturing process. For decades, electronics makers have just lived with it, quietly eating the cost of failed boards, rework, and scrapped materials. It's been called the industry's most expensive open secret. Keiron Printing Technologies, a deep-tech company based in Eindhoven, is out to change that. The company just closed a $22.5 million Series A round (€20.7 million at current exchange rates) to scale its laser-based precision printing platform, which it says can eliminate the problem at the root. ### The Problem Nobody Could Fix Solder paste printing is how electronic components get attached to circuit boards. If you've ever looked inside a smartphone or a laptop, you've seen the result. The process involves depositing tiny amounts of solder paste onto a board so that components can be bonded to it. The catch: it's notoriously unreliable. Keiron says the global electronics assembly market is worth well over $655 billion a year, and solder paste printing is its single biggest point of failure. First-pass yield — the percentage of boards that come out right the first time — typically sits around 60% using conventional methods. That means a huge chunk of production ends up in rework or the trash. The problem has been around for decades, but nobody had cracked it. That's where Keiron's technology comes in. ### A Completely Different Approach The company's LiFT (Laser-Induced Forward Transfer) platform is a fully digital, contactless solder paste printing solution. Instead of using stencils or jets, it uses a laser to transfer solder paste onto the board with pinpoint precision. According to Keiron, it's the world's first industrialized inline system of its kind. The results, if the company's claims hold up, are dramatic: - First-pass yield jumps from ~60% to above 95% - Production lead time is cut in half (no stencils to make or change) - Production uptime doubles - Programming is 10 times faster For manufacturers operating in a high-mix, low-to-medium-volume environment, that translates into higher throughput, lower working capital, better cash flow, and stronger EBITDA. ### Why This Matters for AI Hardware The timing couldn't be better. Next-generation AI hardware is pushing conventional manufacturing to its limits. Some components now have up to 10,000 interconnects, which is far beyond what traditional solder paste printing can handle. Yields on these advanced boards are extremely low — exactly the gap Keiron says its LiFT process was designed to close. "Nowhere is the payoff bigger than in next-generation AI hardware," the company said in its press release. "Components with up to 10,000 interconnects push conventional solder paste printing past its breaking point." ### Backed by Serious Investors The Series A round was co-led by Invest-NL, DeepTechXL, and Waves Capital, with participation from Ramphastos Investments, ATUM Ventures, Cottonwood Technology Fund, and TNO Ventures. It follows a seed round led by DeepTechXL, so this is a team that knows the company well. Hessel Mittelmeijer, Investment Manager and Sustainability Officer at DeepTechXL, said: "AI, defense growth, and increasing manufacturing complexity are accelerating the need for digital transformation in EMS. Keiron solves one of the industry's biggest production challenges with a scalable, digital approach to solder paste printing." ### What's Next Keiron was founded in 2019 as a spin-off from TNO Holst Centre, a strategic collaboration between TNO and imec. It's still developing its technology with TNO as its primary strategic research partner. With the new capital, the company plans to scale production of its HF2 LiFT Printer, expand commercial and support operations across Europe, North America, and APAC, and accelerate R&D on its next-generation LiFT platform. For an industry that has quietly accepted a 40% failure rate for decades, that's a pretty big deal. If Keiron can deliver on its promises, it could fundamentally change how electronics are made — and save manufacturers billions in the process.