Arda Industries, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup developing software for manufacturing engineering, announced $232 million in total funding, comprising a $160 million Series A round and a $72 million seed round. The Series A valued the company at $1.5 billion and was co-led by Altimeter, Accel and Khosla Ventures, with participation from XYZ Venture Capital, 8VC, SV Angel and Felicis.
The earlier $72 million seed round was led by Accel and Founders Fund, with additional participation from Khosla Ventures and XYZ Venture Capital.
Arda was founded by Bob McGrew, Augustus Odena, Alex Mark and Jakob Frick. McGrew serves as CEO and previously held the position of Chief Research Officer at OpenAI. Odena, a former Google Brain researcher and co-founder of Adept, serves as Chief AI Officer. Mark is the company’s Chief Technology Officer, while Frick is a co-founder and adviser. The founding team brings experience from companies including OpenAI, Palantir and Adept.
Arda develops an AI-powered manufacturing engineering platform that helps manufacturers translate product designs into production-ready assembly-line plans. Its software processes computer-aided design (CAD) files and other engineering documents to determine assembly sequences, generate work instructions and plan manufacturing workstations. The platform also helps update production processes when product designs change.
The company’s technology is deployed at defense technology company Anduril Industries, where it is integrated into Anduril’s ArsenalOS manufacturing software. Anduril was Arda’s first design partner and customer. Arda also works with manufacturers in the data center supply chain.
Arda plans to use the funding to expand its engineering and research teams, increase deployments across defense, electronics and data center supply-chain manufacturing, and develop AI models for robotic assembly. Its longer-term development plans include automated production lines that can be reconfigured as product designs evolve.
The company emerged from stealth on October 20, 2026, alongside the announcement of its Series A financing and total funding.
