GEA and RebelDot in joint venture for process technology
Credit: GEA
GEA and RebelDot, a Romanian technology company, are forming a joint venture to accelerate digital transformation in the global process industry, the companies say. The joint venture, RebelDot Process Industries, will be headquartered in Cluj, Romania, and will launch in January 2026. The new company will focus on delivering specialised software development services, including web, mobile and AI solutions, tailored to the needs of industrial customers.
The joint venture combines GEA’s process industry expertise with RebelDot’s software engineering to help process industry and mechanical engineering companies accelerate the development, scaling and operation of their digital solutions. Customers will benefit from shorter product time-to-market, greater development efficiency, and cost-effective operations through modern DevOps practices, the firms note. GEA has also assigned a dedicated software engineering team at RebelDot to collaboratively develop Artificial Intelligence solutions. This includes the GEA Copilot, which acts as an assistant for customers’ maintenance teams to fulfil their service tasks.
RebelDot in Romania has a strong reputation among young tech talent and maintains close ties with the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca. Through the acquisition of a specialist AI firm, RebelDot has also expanded its expertise in artificial intelligence, enabling the joint venture to support OEMs in exploring AI-driven applications and solutions. Tudor Ciuleanu, CEO of RebelDot, says, “We are excited to join forces with GEA in shaping the future of digital solutions for the process industry. Our experience as a digital innovation partner, blending user-centred design with cutting-edge software engineering, combined with GEA’s global reach and industry expertise, creates powerful synergies to deliver sustainable, customer-focused solutions.“
Meanwhile, GEA operates a large industrial cloud platform in the process industry – the GEA Cloud, which connects more than 10,000 units of process equipment worldwide. The collaboration with RebelDot enables faster development cycles, greater agility and access to specialised expertise, building on GEA’s open-source software strategy. Earlier in 2025, GEA became a member of the Eclipse Foundation, an independent, non-profit organisation supporting open-source software collaboration and innovation. Both GEA and RebelDot Process Industries will develop open-source-ready code and actively contribute to the process industry software community.
One example is project Sealman, which provides an open-source IIoT connectivity stack to machine builders. It helps OEMs focus on developing digital customer solutions while standardizing and simplifying equipment connectivity to their own cloud systems. Building on this open and collaborative approach, the new joint venture is for OEMs and industrial companies looking to develop scalable, future-proof software for an open digital ecosystem in modern production environments, according to the companies.
