Valispace

Valispace operates as a collaborative, browser-based software platform designed to serve the complex hardware engineering market. Founded in 2016 by former satellite engineers Marco Witzmann, Louise Lindblad, and Simon Bussche, the company originated from their direct experience with cumbersome and inefficient engineering processes. Witzmann, now CEO, and Lindblad, COO, identified the need to move beyond traditional tools like Microsoft Office to manage the vast amounts of interconnected data in projects such as satellites, rockets, and medical devices.

The firm targets engineering departments in sectors including aerospace, automotive, defense, and robotics, serving clients from startups to large enterprises like Airbus and DMG MORI. Its business model is primarily subscription-based, offering both cloud-hosted and on-premise solutions with tiered pricing for different levels of access and features. The platform functions as a single source of truth, enabling real-time collaboration among systems engineers, project managers, and other stakeholders. By centralizing data, Valispace aims to reduce the time engineers spend on non-engineering tasks, such as documentation and data searches.

Valispace's core product provides a dynamic environment where all engineering data is interconnected. Key features include requirements management, automated engineering budget tracking, change history, and seamless integration with other engineering tools like CAD software. When a value is updated, the software automatically recalculates all dependent values across the system, updates documentation, and notifies relevant team members. The platform supports the entire product lifecycle, from initial specification and design to verification and validation. Recently, Valispace introduced an AI-powered assistant to help generate documentation, write formal requirements, and identify inconsistencies. In February 2024, the company was acquired by Altium, a provider of electronics design software, for $20M, a move intended to bridge the gap between systems engineering and electronics hardware design.

Keywords: engineering data management, systems engineering, hardware development, requirements management, product lifecycle management, PLM software, aerospace engineering, automotive design, collaborative engineering, single source of truth, design verification, engineering automation, technical data management, hardware engineering platform, digital thread, model-based systems engineering, MBSE, concurrent design, engineering collaboration, Altium, satellite design, robotics development, complex hardware