Estonia’s Fractory appoints Lone Jensen as COO to steer company growth

Fractory, the Estonian manufacturing technology startup, announced the appointment of Lone Jensen as their inaugural Chief Operating Officer (COO). Jensen, hailing from Denmark, brings a wealth of experience as a former computer engineer turned operational leader, previously holding key roles at Startup Wise Guys, a distinguished European B2B early-stage investor.

During her tenure spanning six years at Startup Wise Guys, Jensen served as Managing Director and later as Chief Operating Officer, contributing significantly to its recognition as the “Hottest Accelerator” at the 2021 Europas Startup Awards. Under her stewardship, the firm consistently ranked among the most active European seed stage investors by PitchBook and secured a position among the top 5 accelerators in annual surveys conducted by European VCs.

Fractory, founded in 2017, is an online platform revolutionizing manufacturing procurement. It acts as a vital link connecting engineers seeking production capacity with a streamlined process that allows for easy upload of design files, providing instant quotes and delivery timelines. With a workforce of 70 employees and consistent year-on-year turnover growth, it simplifies series manufacturing, project manufacturing, and prototyping, managing every aspect of the order and navigating complex supply chains on behalf of its customers.

Fractory’s decision to bring Jensen aboard follows a recent successful funding round earlier this month, signaling the company’s commitment to bolstering its leadership in response to expanding operations. Martin Vares, CEO and co-founder of Fractory, expressed confidence in Jensen’s expertise, emphasizing her background in the tech sector and her proven track record in driving operational growth and development.

“We know we are becoming a bigger company with bigger clients and we need people who have already been there, who have done it before,” Martin says. “The COO role is always partly administrative and organisational, but in our case its aim is transformative. It is concerned with handling the expansion already happening and readying us for future expansion.”

Lone Jensen says, “Fractory is processing ever larger orders and is seeing bigger organisations coming to rely on its service, so the company structure must be diligently arranged to manage current demand as well as ongoing growth. Certain things need to be in place in a mature company and Fractory is maturing fast following recent investment and the strategic partnership that comes from it.”

Fractory recently secured an impressive £4.2 million in an investment round led by Kvanted, a new Finnish VC fund specializing in industrial tech companies. Boasting prominent industrialists such as Oras Invest among its fund investors, Kvanted acts as a bridge, uniting its tech investments with traditional industrial companies in its expansive network.

The strategic addition of Lone Jensen as Fractory’s COO positions the company for an exciting phase of expansion and fortifies its capability to cater to evolving market demands and opportunities.

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