Zea

What Zea does

Zea is a privately held SaaS company headquartered in Montreal, Canada, founded in 2015. The company operates a 3D Digital Twins Platform that converts manufacturers' CAD files and business data into interactive, browser-based digital twins. Zea sells to enterprise manufacturing customers and positions its platform across the full product lifecycle — from production through sales, documentation, and after-sales support. Its customers include manufacturers in turf harvesting (Trebro), industrial vehicles (Motrec), and electric vehicles (Taiga Motors).

The platform is structured as a core engine with several application modules: Zea Cortex (customer support knowledge capture that converts support calls into reusable institutional knowledge), Zea Configurators (interactive 3D product configurators for sales acceleration), Zea Parts (serial number-specific parts catalogs integrated with ERP data), Zea Illustrations (interactive animated technical documentation), SimStream CAE Visualizer (browser-based 3D simulation result visualization), and Custom Applications (bespoke deployments). The technology is differentiated by its ability to ingest native CAD and ERP data and automatically generate thousands of part-catalog variants, plus offline-ready catalogs with installable web apps (released February 2026).

Zea operates a B2B enterprise sales motion targeting manufacturers, with "Schedule a demo" CTAs as the primary conversion mechanism. Revenue is generated via subscription/recurring software licensing of the platform and its modules; no pricing is publicly disclosed. The company is small (1-10 employees), has disclosed only a single $103,454 funding round in May 2019 with unknown investors, and appears to be self-funded or founder-owned with no institutional investors or parent company identified. Leadership is led by CEO Michael Smith. The company rebranded to "Zea" in 2025 and has maintained a steady cadence of monthly product releases through April 2026.

Name

Zea

Legal name

Zea Inc

Website

https://zea.live

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Zea is a SaaS platform that converts manufacturers' CAD and business data into interactive 3D digital twins. Its applications support sales (configurators), service (parts catalogs), support (knowledge capture), and documentation workflows for manufacturing enterprises.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

3D Digital Twin Platform

NAICS

Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

akta.pro primary industry

Personalization, Testing & Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) (BPAFAFAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

XR/AR/VR/MR Development Frameworks & Toolchains (MPAFAFAF)

Keywords

• 3D digital twin
• Product configurator
• Parts catalog
• CAD visualization
• 3D experience platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Montréal

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Platform Software Licensing: Zea generates revenue through software platform licensing with multiple application modules including Cortex, Configurators, Parts, and Illustrations. The platform is sold to manufacturing organizations for deployment across sales, service, and support operations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Zea is a SaaS 3D Digital Experience Platform that transforms CAD and business data into interactive 3D digital twins for manufacturers. Its offerings include product configurators, parts catalogs, technical illustrations, and custom 3D applications, primarily used to support after-sales service, training, and customer experience workflows.

Product overview

Zea is a 3D Digital Twins Platform for Manufacturers that transforms CAD and business data into interactive digital twins. The platform consists of a core platform with multiple integrated applications: Zea Cortex (customer support knowledge capture), Zea Configurators (interactive 3D product configurators for sales), Zea Parts (parts catalogs for after-market operations), Zea Illustrations (interactive animated technical documentation), SimStream CAE Visualizer (browser-based 3D simulation visualizer), and Custom Applications (bespoke solutions). Together these applications power the entire product cycle from production to sales, documentation, and after-sales support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Zea Cortex: Customer support platform that captures knowledge from support calls and creates reusable knowledge bases for manufacturers.
• Zea Configurators
• Zea Parts
• Zea Illustrations
• SimStream CAE Visualizer

Products and services

• Zea Platform Core SaaS 3D Digital Experience Platform that transforms CAD and business data into interactive 3D digital twins, serving as the foundation for Zea's product configurators, parts catalogs, and illustrations. Targeted at industrial manufacturers for after-sales service and customer experience.
• Zea Configurators Interactive 3D product configurator offering that allows manufacturers to let customers and sales teams visually configure products with engineering-accurate options, built on the Zea Platform.
• Zea Parts 3D parts catalog and ordering tool that turns manufacturer CAD data into an interactive, browser-based parts catalog, supporting after-sales service, parts identification, and ordering workflows.
• Zea Illustrations Technical illustration offering that converts CAD and product data into interactive 3D technical illustrations for service documentation, training, and maintenance procedures.
• SimStream CAE Visualizer CAE (computer-aided engineering) visualization tool that streams simulation and engineering analysis results into interactive 3D views, enabling engineers and stakeholders to explore simulation data in a browser.
• Custom 3D Applications Bespoke 3D application development service where Zea builds tailored interactive 3D experiences on top of the Zea Platform to address manufacturer-specific workflows not covered by standard offerings.

Quantifiable outcome

• Automated creation and updating of thousands of serial number-specific part catalogs
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature5 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Threekit: Threekit is a 3D product visualization and configuration platform that helps manufacturers and brands deliver interactive configurators and product experiences online — directly overlapping with Zea Configurators and Zea Parts.
• Expivi: Expivi provides a 3D product configurator and visualization SaaS aimed at manufacturers and e-commerce sellers, comparable to Zea Configurators in technology stack (browser-based 3D) and target use case (manufacturing sales enablement).
• Configura: Configura specializes in 3D space planning and product configuration software for manufacturers of complex configurable goods, competing directly with Zea's CAD-driven configurator and parts catalog capabilities for industrial OEMs.
• Visual Components: Visual Components provides 3D simulation and visualization software for manufacturing and production environments, comparable to Zea's SimStream CAE Visualizer and broader digital twin positioning for manufacturers.

Broad incumbents

• PTC: PTC offers Creo (CAD), ThingWorx (IoT/AR/digital twin), and Windchill (PLM) — a broad incumbent that owns the underlying CAD data Zea ingests and can natively bundle configurator, parts, and service capabilities that overlap with Zea's modules.
• Siemens Digital Industries Software: Siemens offers NX, Solid Edge, Teamcenter, and the Xcelerator portfolio covering CAD, PLM, manufacturing, and digital twin functionality — a broad incumbent whose platform strategy competes with Zea's manufacturer-focused digital twin stack.
• Dassault Systèmes (3DEXPERIENCE): Dassault Systèmes provides CATIA, SOLIDWORKS, ENOVIA, and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform spanning CAD, PLM, and 3D visualization, serving as a broad incumbent that can offer configurator- and parts-catalog-adjacent functionality natively.
• Salesforce (Service Cloud / Field Service): Salesforce's Service Cloud and Field Service offerings provide customer support, knowledge management, and field service workflows that overlap with the use cases addressed by Zea Cortex, and could expand into manufacturer-specific digital twin experiences.
• ServiceNow: ServiceNow provides enterprise customer service, field service management, and knowledge management platforms with AI capabilities that overlap with Zea Cortex's support-knowledge capture value proposition for manufacturers.

Others

• Sketchfab: Sketchfab is a 3D model publishing and viewer platform that overlaps with Zea's browser-based 3D visualization technology but serves a broader audience including creators and designers rather than focusing on manufacturing workflows.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Zea