CloudNC adds $20m to Series B, taking lifetime raise to $128m
The London-founded CNC software firm says more than 1,000 machine shops use its CAM Assist tool. Lockheed Martin's venture arm is among the backers.
CloudNC has raised a $20m extension to its Series B. The round takes the company's lifetime total to $128m.
Nimble Ventures led. Calculus Venture Capital, Entrepreneurs First and LM Capital, the venture arm of Lockheed Martin, also took part.
The company's last major raise was four years ago, co-founder and chief executive Theo Saville told TechCrunch.
Saville started the business in 2015 with Chris Emery, now chief science officer. It employs 80 people.
The product is CAM Assist. It plugs into existing computer-aided manufacturing software such as Autodesk Fusion and Mastercam.
CNC machining cuts and shapes material into parts for the automotive, defence and consumer hardware industries. Before anything is cut, a programmer has to decide how the part is held and which tools are used.
That decision work is what CloudNC is going after. Saville said the software selects tools, approach directions, and cutting feeds and speeds, then drafts the code that instructs the machine.
The human then reviews, edits and approves. Saville described the tool as an assistant that automates first-pass thinking and repetitive setup rather than replacing expert judgement.
More than 1,000 machine shops use CAM Assist worldwide, according to Saville, and 80% of the customer base is in the United States.
A second product, Quote Agent, is due to launch next month. It is aimed at manufacturers assessing the estimated cost and risk of a job so they can accept or reject work faster.
Saville tied the timing to reshoring by American machine shops and a shortage of skilled manufacturing workers. The money goes on take-up of CAM Assist, go-to-market operations, expansion into existing and new markets, and new products.
For founders selling into manufacturing, the shape of this deal is the useful part. A defence prime's venture arm is writing cheques into shop-floor software, and the buyer CloudNC describes is a shop trying to get more out of the machines and people it already has.
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