Ai Build secures $8.5 Million in Series A Funding

Additive manufacturing software company Ai Build has closed an $8.5 million Series A round led by IQ Capital, with Nikon joining as a strategic investor alongside existing investors.

Founded in 2015 by architects Daghan Cam and Mikhail Desyllas, the company offers manufacturers a cloud-based solution. This is designed to help reduce costs, manufacturing time and material waste in a manufacturing process that has historically been considered cumbersome and error-prone.

Ai Build is partnering with major manufacturing companies, including Boeing, to advance the use of additive manufacturing in large-scale industrial applications. Applications range from specialty tooling to end-use components in the aerospace, automotive and energy industries. Early customers of Ai Build saw remarkable improvements, including a 65% reduction in failed production attempts and a 90% increase in overall build efficiency.

Daghan Cam, Co-founder and CEO at Ai Build: “Despite its clear economic and environmental benefits, manufacturers have difficulty implementing additive manufacturing at an industrial scale. This is due to concerns about its reliability and ease of adoption. We believe that automation and smart use of data is the solution to this problem. By partnering with Nikon as a leading technology provider who has a grand vision for the future of manufacturing, and IQ Capital as a deep-tech investor with proven track record of supporting global businesses, we are well positioned to achieve our goal for automating the factories of the future.”

Michail Desyllas, Co-founder and COO at Ai Build: “It is a great privilege to be supported by investors and partners that share and understand the same vision as us. We are consistently learning and evolving the Ai Build platform to be ready for this rapidly growing market. This funding round comes at a perfect time for us to accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing at scale and innovate together with our clients, partners and investors.”

The secured capital will be used for product development and to facilitate entry into the North American market by establishing a U.S. subsidiary. In addition, the Ai Build and Nikon engineering teams plan to combine their expertise in software and hardware to advance the state of the art in additive manufacturing.

Mason Sinclair, Principal at IQ Capital: “We’re excited to be working with Ai Build as they bring their automated platform for additive manufacturing to the global market. AM represents a $16bn segment of the manufacturing industry and is growing rapidly at over 20% per annum. This is an exciting time of transformation for the industry and we believe that AI Build will play a critical role in unlocking its potential.”

Yuichi Shibazaki, Corporate Vice President and Officer in charge of Next Generation Project Division at Nikon: “Ai Build offers extensive solutions that enable automated workflows, bringing efficiency and sustainability to the field of AM. In tandem with Nikon’s capabilities, together we will deliver innovative solutions that revolutionize AM.”