What FIFTY2 Technology does

FIFTY2 Technology GmbH is a German engineering software company headquartered in Freiburg, founded around 2015 and majority-owned (70%) by AVL since July 2024. The firm operates in the Computer Systems Design and Related Services industry and builds particle-based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software targeted at automotive OEMs and tier-1 suppliers, with growing reach into maritime and industrial customers.

The company's flagship product, PreonLab, is a mesh-free CFD platform that uses an implicit formulation of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), branded as PREON technology. Its technical differentiators include Continuous Particle Size (CPS) adaptive refinement with up to a 32:1 particle size ratio, an NVIDIA CUDA GPU-accelerated solver that delivers documented speedups up to 23.3x, a snow/soiling solver benchmarked against OEM testing, a Virtual Wind Tunnel FVM airflow solver introduced in version 7.1, and a higher-order thermal solver for conjugate heat transfer in e-motor and powertrain applications. PreonDock is offered as a complementary workflow tool. Validation studies reference simulations with 200 million-plus particles running 36-54 hours on 2184-core clusters, with named OEM references from Volvo Cars (water wading), Schaeffler Technologies (e-axle lubrication/cooling), Audi (snow), and Great Wall Motor.

Commercially, FIFTY2 sells PreonLab via direct enterprise engagement to engineering departments, supported by technical demonstrations, proof-of-concept evaluations, a user conference (PreonDay Germany 2026 co-hosted with AVL at the Audi driving experience center), webinars, an Innovation Corner technical-content site, newsletter and social-media channels. Pricing is custom and not publicly disclosed; revenue is generated from enterprise software licenses (recurring subscription model). The firm remains a sub-10-person operation with co-founders Dr. Markus Ihmsen and Jens Cornelis serving as managing partners.

Name

FIFTY2 Technology

Legal name

FIFTY2 Technology GmbH

Website

https://fifty2.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

FIFTY2 Technology GmbH develops PreonLab, a particle-based CFD simulation software using implicit SPH, serving automotive OEMs and tier-1 suppliers (Volvo, Schaeffler, Audi, Great Wall Motor) for virtual prototyping of water wading, e-motor cooling, lubrication, snow, and wave tank applications. The firm is majority-owned by AVL.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Freiburg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

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. PreonLab Software Licenses: PreonLab CFD simulation software is sold as a commercial product. The software operates on both CPU and GPU platforms. Revenue is generated through software licenses, with the specific licensing model (subscription vs. perpetual) not publicly disclosed in available sources.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

FIFTY2 Technology develops and sells PreonLab, a commercial particle-based CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation software built on proprietary implicit Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and PREON® technology. The mesh-free software is sold under commercial licenses to engineering teams in the automotive, maritime, and industrial sectors for rapid virtual prototyping of hydrodynamic problems, including water wading, e-motor cooling, lubrication, gearbox, snow/soiling, and wave tank applications. The company also offers the PreonDock workflow product alongside PreonLab and provides license-based access to GPU-accelerated simulation runs.

Product overview

FIFTY2 Technology GmbH offers a unified product portfolio centered on PreonLab, a particle-based CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation software. PreonLab uses proprietary implicit SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics) technology branded as PREON® for mesh-free fluid simulation. The portfolio includes PreonLab as the primary simulation platform and PreonDock as an additional product/module. The software enables rapid virtual prototyping across automotive, maritime, and industrial applications including water wading, e-motor cooling, lubrication systems, snow dynamics, and wave tank simulations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• PreonLab: Particle-based CFD simulation software for fluid dynamics, thermal analysis, and virtual prototyping applications in automotive and engineering industries.
• PreonDock
• Continuous Particle Size (CPS)
• ParticleEngine

Products and services

• PreonLab Particle-based CFD simulation software using implicit SPH and PREON® technology, sold under commercial license to engineering teams at automotive OEMs, suppliers, and industrial manufacturers for rapid virtual prototyping of hydrodynamic problems including water wading, e-motor cooling, lubrication, gearbox, snow/soiling, and wave tank simulations. Supports both CPU and GPU (CUDA) execution.
• PreonDock Software tool listed by FIFTY2 Technology alongside PreonLab as part of its CFD simulation and analysis workflow offerings, supporting pre- and post-processing tasks within the PreonLab ecosystem.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 23.3x speedup on GPU vs CPU for single-phase gearbox simulations
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 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

Feature9 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Altair: Provider of CFD solutions including ultraFluidX (LBM-based) and AcuSolve (FEM-based). Altair competes in automotive and industrial CFD markets with comparable target use cases around external aerodynamics, fluid-structure interaction, and engineering optimization.
• ANSYS: Dominant commercial CFD provider with Fluent (FVM) and LS-DYNA (SPH for crash and FSI). ANSYS sets the incumbent standard in automotive CAE and competes with PreonLab across fluid, thermal, and multiphysics simulation budgets at OEM engineering departments.
• Dassault Systèmes: Major CAE software provider with SIMULIA (Abaqus) and XFlow, a particle-based CFD solver. XFlow directly competes with PreonLab in mesh-free fluid simulation for automotive and industrial applications, making it the closest direct peer in technology and target use case.
• Flow Science: Provider of FLOW-3D, a CFD software specializing in free-surface flows, coating, and multiphase applications. Flow Science targets similar problems to PreonLab's water wading, soiling, and coating simulations in industrial and manufacturing settings.
• Prometech Software: Japanese provider of particle-based simulation software (Particleworks, Granuleworks) using SPH and DEM methods. Prometech directly competes with PreonLab in mesh-free fluid simulation for automotive, manufacturing, and consumer product applications.
• Cadence Design Systems: Acquired NUMECA in 2022, adding FVM-based CFD (FINE/Marine) to its portfolio. NUMECA's Marine and Turbo machinery tools target similar multiphysics and rotating machinery problems as PreonLab's lubrication and gearbox simulation use cases.
• Siemens Digital Industries Software: Provider of Star-CCM+, a leading multiphysics CFD platform widely used in automotive and industrial applications. Star-CCM+ competes with PreonLab for engineering simulation budgets at OEM engineering departments and overlaps strongly in external aerodynamics and multiphase use cases.

Emerging players

• M-Star Simulations: Early-stage CFD company using Lattice Boltzmann methods for industrial and data center cooling applications. Comparable to FIFTY2 as a non-traditional CFD approach targeting multiphysics and complex geometry problems with specialized solver technology.
• OpenCFD: Provider of the commercial OpenFOAM distribution, an open-source CFD platform widely used in academic and industrial research. Serves as a free alternative to commercial CFD tools and competes on flexibility, though with higher setup and maintenance burden than PreonLab.

Broad incumbents

• COMSOL: Multiphysics simulation platform with a CFD module for fluid flow and conjugate heat transfer. COMSOL is widely used by engineering teams for coupled multiphysics problems overlapping with PreonLab's thermal and fluid-structure use cases, though it is a broad multiphysics tool rather than a CFD specialist.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fifty2-technology-gmbh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

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 FIFTY2 Technology