CloudNC, a company that develops software for factories to autonomously create components, has raised $45m (£36.7m) in fresh funding.
The London-headquartered company said it plans to use the capital to expand its manufacturing capabilities in Essex and develop its software as a service offering.
CloudNC’s software is designed to produce precision parts without humans manually programming machines. It can be used in a swathe of industries, from aerospace to consumer electronics.
The Series B funding round was led by US software company Autodesk, with additional funding coming from US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.
British Patient Capital, a subsidiary of the government’s British Business Bank, invested £5m via its Future Fund: Breakthrough.
Previous venture capital backers Atomico, Episode 1 Ventures and QVentures completed the investor roster.
“When people think of manufacturing, they tend to think of robotic car factories, and don’t realise that the industry is dominated by craft processes reliant on dwindling expert knowledge. This makes it incredibly complex to get things made, stifling the pace of innovation,” said Theo Saville, CEO and co-founder of CloudNC.
Sources told Bloomberg that the latest investment values CloudNC at as much as £200m.
Founded in 2015, CloudNC has previously received more than £1m in grants from Innovate UK, the government’s innovation agency.
Saville added: “Our vision is for manufacturing to become so simple, it’s invisible – a single click to make nearly any product in days, not months or years, and with no worries about reliability or quality.”