The Problem: High-volume manufacturing needs solutions

High-volume manufacturing underpins countless products we use daily—from clothing and furniture to the chocolates lining our store shelves. Yet, when we think of factories, we rarely consider the amount of manual labor required to keep production lines humming and supply chains moving. 

As it stands, more than 400,000 factories operate in the U.S. alone, and around 50,000 of these continue to depend heavily on manual human inputs. Despite automation breakthroughs in industries like automotive and consumer electronics, many high-volume manufacturers in other sectors remain stuck in outdated, labor-intensive processes. In a way, the automation revolution missed them.

This labor-centric reality introduces inefficiencies, lowers productivity, inflates insurance and legal costs, and increases workplace hazards. The stakes on a macro level are growing as well: intense market competition and demand for near-perfect quality drive factories to seek real-time data and analytics capabilities. 

For many factories operating under these conditions, solutions can’t come fast enough. In a 2024 manufacturing landscape that saw labor strikes, high turnover, and skyrocketing operational expenses, factories are at a breaking point. And while the industry at large recognizes that AI holds tremendous promise, spotty network connectivity and the need for millisecond-level decisions have hampered the widespread adoption of cloud-based, data-hungry solutions.

Faced with these challenges, we recognized not just a problem, but an enormous opportunity.

Maneva: Video-to-Action AI Agents

Enter Maneva, a company on a mission to transform high-volume manufacturing with AI agents that can see, learn, and act autonomously on the factory floor. 

Co-founded by CEO Rae Jeong—a former Google DeepMind research engineer who developed advanced video-to-action AI—and CTO Kelvin Chan - a former Magna International engineer focused on deep learning and robotics, Maneva tackles the longstanding gaps in real-world automation. Rather than band-aiding issues with fragmented hardware solutions or partial inspections, Maneva’s approach replaces low-level, repetitive tasks with an AI “workforce” that trains, improves, and deploys quickly, even on edge devices.

From engineering mechatronics and robotics in college to witnessing the hardships of manual labor firsthand working as a mechanic as a young adult, Rae is a founder who lives and breathes the problem Maneva is solving. Pairing that background with Kelvin’s R&D expertise in sensors, computer vision, and embedded AI at Magna, Maneva’s founding team offers the rare blend of deep technical skill and practical empathy for frontline workers.

Maneva focuses on deploying “verticalized AI agents,” single-task AI solutions that excel at performing repetitive, time-sensitive functions in manufacturing. These agents operate directly on the factory floor, leveraging edge computing that sidesteps the usual issues of network bandwidth, latency, and cloud dependency. Thanks to reinforcement learning, Maneva’s AI can master new tasks in as little as 5-7 days, with minimal human oversight—turning experimentation and iteration into a seamless process. 

Maneva’s asset-light approach pushes beyond monitoring and extends into action. Instead of relying on the one-size-fits-all platforms or hardware-laden solutions offered by competitors, Maneva integrates easily into existing factory setups, allowing operations teams to launch new AI agents through a self-serve platform. The result is an approach that’s faster, more cost-effective, and more likely to earn buy-in from executives and frontline operators alike.

The core reasons we are super excited to welcome Maneva into the portfolio include: 

1. Technical Storyteller: Rae exemplifies what we look for in a founder—someone whose deep technical background is matched by the ability to clearly convey why Maneva’s solution matters.
2. Strong Founder-Market Fit: Growing up in an industrial setting and honing his AI expertise at DeepMind, Rae understands both the high-level research and day-to-day factory realities that drive Maneva’s product roadmap.
3. Massive Market Opportunity: High-volume manufacturing is a trillion-dollar industry ripe for automation. Factories are hungry for practical AI solutions that deliver measurable ROI, and Maneva stands ready to meet that demand.

While this space is hotly contested, we feel that Maneva differentiates itself by training AI agents on the edge rather than in the cloud, enabling real-time action and process optimization. Factor in Rae’s personal experience working in factories—and Kelvin’s specialized focus on embedded AI—and it’s clear Maneva is carving out a unique, defensible niche.

The potential for scale is enormous: once a factory deploys its first AI agent and sees immediate improvements in labor costs, error rates, and downtime, adding more agents to tackle new tasks is a straightforward next step.

We hold a strong belief that Maneva is well-positioned to reshape how factories operate, freeing workers from repetitive tasks and dramatically raising the bar for manufacturing efficiency. This vision aligns with the broader story at Behind Genius Ventures—backing technically brilliant teams with a knack for storytelling and an unwavering drive to solve hard problems.

We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Rae, Kelvin, and the Maneva team in their seed round alongside Bling Capital and Freestyle Capital as they usher in a new era of AI-powered, human-centered factory operations. By enabling real-time automation and continuously evolving AI agents, Maneva is tackling one of the largest—and most overlooked—frontiers in industry.

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This is more than just an investment; it’s a bet on the future of manufacturing and a team that’s uniquely qualified to deliver on its promise.

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