Freeform Raises $67M for AI Manufacturing
Hardware startup Freeform has raised a $67 million Series B round to scale its AI-driven laser manufacturing processes. The funding indicates continued venture capital interest in startups that apply artificial intelligence and robotics to advanced manufacturing and industrial automation.
- The Series B round was led by NVIDIA's venture arm (NVentures), Two Sigma Ventures, and Founders Fund, with an estimated post-money valuation of around $179 million, according to PitchBook. - Freeform was founded in 2018 by former SpaceX engineers Erik Palitsch and Thomas Ronacher, who saw the limitations of existing metal 3D printers while developing rocket engines. - The company's technology utilizes an "AI-native" approach, housing high-performance NVIDIA H200 GPU clusters on-site to run real-time physics simulations that control the laser powder bed fusion process. - Proceeds will fund the development of its next-generation factory platform, "Skyfall," which will scale from the current 18-laser system to hundreds of lasers, aiming to produce thousands of kilograms of metal parts daily. - Freeform operates on a manufacturing-as-a-service model, producing parts for customers like SpaceX rather than selling its proprietary printing systems. - The company is part of a broader venture-backed trend in "Physical AI" for industrial automation, competing with other advanced manufacturing startups like Hadrian, VulcanForms, and Divergent.
