Startup Exaas was founded in Munich in October 2019 by company builder Mantro and diecasting specialist Oskar Frech GmbH. The startup regards itself as an expert platform for industrial manufacturing. Target groups are engineers, buyers, quality managers, and manufacturers of technical products looking for external experts to help them optimize components and reduce manufacturing costs. The services offered include an expert search service and concrete solution packages. According to Exaas, mechanical engineers, manufacturers, consulting firms, and industry-oriented research institutes have already joined the network. A profile on munich-startup.de states that in contrast to engineering service providers and freelancer platforms, the startup wants to bring lost manufacturing knowledge back into companies.

Such industrial platforms have become well-established in Germany. The Federation of German Industries (BDI) lists 41 of them in a brochure. According to the BDI, companies from the mechanical and plant engineering, logistics, and aerospace sectors in particular use such business models to achieve efficiency gains.