Daedalus secures 21 million US dollars in Series A financing round

With fresh Series A funding, Daedalus wants to expand advanced, AI-controlled factories and deliver precise parts worldwide. Focus on autonomous, reconfigurable factories.

Karlsruhe, Germany, February 8, 2024 - Technology company Daedalus announced today that it has successfully raised $21 million in a Series A financing round. The round was led by NGP Capital, with participation from existing investors such as Addition and Khosla Ventures. The fresh funds will be used to further develop Daedalus' Manufacturing AI Platform and expand the company's production capacities in Germany.

Autonomous and reconfigurable factories

Daedalus, led by former OpenAI Technical Lead Jonas Schneider, is working on the development of autonomous and instantly reconfigurable factories. The company takes a software-driven and vertically integrated approach to orchestrate and automate the entire manufacturing process for high-precision and diverse parts.

Imagine factories that combine the collective knowledge and expertise of all engineers and machinists and can produce the most challenging parts with superhuman reliability and 10x efficiency

Jonas Schneider, founder and CEO of Daedalus

Jonas Schneider, founder and CEO of Daedalus, comments on the current challenges in precision manufacturing and emphasizes that the company has already alleviated some pain points with the software-controlled factory to date. However, this is only the beginning of the journey. The new funds will be used to expand production capacity, meet customer demand and invest in product development and staff recruitment.

Software-defined approach and AI automation

Daedalus' highly automated production facilities rely on software optimization and AI automation to control and optimize operations at the shop floor level. This software-defined approach enables the production of new parts with minimal human intervention and allows team members with little training to execute customers' mission-sensitive designs from CAD to finished parts with high precision, reliability and speed.

Christian Noske, Partner at NGP Capital, highlights that companies that introduce AI into complex industries could become the tech giants of the 21st century. According to Noske, precision manufacturing offers an ideal market for a vertically integrated solution that connects AI-driven automation directly to complex value chains.

Customer base with precision manufacturing

Daedalus already serves companies in the semiconductor, energy, e-mobility, defense and pharmaceutical sectors. These companies rely on precision manufacturing for their specific, high-quality components. The total turnover of precision parts worldwide is more than half a trillion US dollars annually. However, leading companies face a fragmented landscape of over 100,000 machine shops, most of which operate with fewer than ten employees. This creates challenges in terms of reliability and scalability in supply chains.

Daedalus plans to use the additional capital to further invest in improving the customer experience and internal efficiencies. Schneider emphasizes that despite the progress made so far, there is still a significant need in Germany and customer demand exceeds current capacity. Daedalus continues to see itself as an emerging company in precision manufacturing and strives to meet the challenges of the industry through innovative approaches.