LA's Nominal Joins Unicorn Club at $1B
LA-based hardware testing platform Nominal has closed an $80M Series B-2, pushing its valuation to $1 billion. The round, led by Founders Fund with Sequoia and Lux Capital, cements Nominal's role as a key player for the region's aerospace, defense, and climate tech startups.
The company's founding team brings deep industry experience, with co-founders Cameron McCord, Bryce Strauss, and Jason Hoch hailing from the U.S. Navy, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, and Anduril. Their firsthand experience with the persistent challenges of managing massive volumes of hardware test data in these environments directly led to Nominal's creation. Nominal's software platform is designed to be the data backbone for engineers building complex physical systems like satellites, autonomous vehicles, fusion energy systems, and advanced weapons. The platform's two main products, Nominal Core and Nominal Connect, help automate the process of collecting, analyzing, and visualizing telemetry data, which is a significant bottleneck in hardware development. This latest funding round was preemptive and came just 10 months after a $75M Series B led by Sequoia; Nominal's CEO Cameron McCord stated the company was not actively looking for more capital. Founders Fund partner and Anduril co-founder, Trae Stephens, initiated the deal based on strong feedback from multiple Founders Fund portfolio companies who described Nominal's software as "essential infrastructure". The company has demonstrated explosive growth, reporting a 7x increase in year-over-year revenue. In tandem with its revenue growth, the workforce has expanded from 43 to 135 employees across offices in Los Angeles, Austin, New York, Washington D.C., and a recently opened location in London to meet European demand. Nominal has established itself as a critical tool within the defense industrial base, securing contracts with four of the five largest defense contractors in the world. While its initial focus was on aerospace and defense, the company is now expanding to support sectors like automotive, industrial manufacturing, and energy systems. The new capital is earmarked for accelerating product development, expanding its global footprint, and pursuing strategic acquisitions to build out its hardware data ecosystem. The investment reflects a broader venture capital trend of backing "hard tech" and companies crucial to the modern industrial and defense sectors. Based in Los Angeles, Nominal is a central player in a region that has become a global capital for aerospace and defense innovation. The area is home to established giants like SpaceX and Northrop Grumman as well as a burgeoning ecosystem of startups, supported by a strong local venture capital presence.
