CloudNC raises $20M to automate manufacturing’s most pressing bottlenecks

UK-based manufacturing software startup CloudNC announced a $20 million B extension round on Wednesday, bringing its lifetime total raised amount to $128 million. The company’s last major raise was four years ago, its co-founder and CEO Theo Saville told TechCrunch.

Saville launched CloudNC in 2015 with Chris Emery, now the company’s chief science officer, and offers AI-powered CAM Assist software that automates parts of Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining. CNC is the process of using computer-controlled machines to cut or shape materials precisely into the parts that are then used in automotive, defense, or consumer hardware industries.

Before a part can be cut, Saville said, a machinist or a computer-aided manufacturing programmer has to decide issues like how a part should be held or what tools should be used, Saville said.

They typically use powerful CAM software to help with this ideation phase, and although some of these tools can help users create part features or known part patterns, that’s different from looking at the part and generating an execution strategy an expert would actually want to use. 

“Traditional CAM systems are powerful, but in most workflows, they are still tools that allow programmers to manually specify how a part should be machined,” Saville said. This is where his CAM Assist comes in, a software that plugs into traditional CAM systems, like Autodesk Fusion or Mastercam, to help machinists and programmers make more efficient strategic manufacturing decisions. 

“It selects suitable tools, approach directions, and cutting feeds and speeds, and then drafts the code required to tell the CNC machine what to do,” Saville said. 

From there, the user reviews, edits, and approves the results. Saville said the goal was to help skilled workers be more “efficient and productive,” rather than removing expert judgment from the process. If “traditional CAM is a powerful toolkit,” he said, then “CAM Assist is more like an expert assistant sitting alongside the programmer, automating much of the first-pass thinking and repetitive setup so the human can review, improve, and approve the approach.” 

Saville said more than 1,000 machine shops worldwide use CAM Assist, and 80% of the company’s customer base, which includes both manufacturers and companies, is in the U.S. With a team of 80 employees, the company’s biggest goal is scaling adoption. 

“This makes this the right time to raise additional capital,” he said. Investors in the round include Nimble Ventures, which led the round, Calculus Venture Capital, Entrepreneur First, and LM Capital, Lockheed Martin’s venture arm. “The funding allows us to support wider take-up of CAM Assist, strengthen our go-to-market operations, expand in existing and new markets, and develop new products such as Quote Agent.” 

The premise behind Quote Agent, which targets manufacturers, is similar to CAM Assist. It helps shops assess the estimated cost and risk of a new project so they can move faster to accept — or reject — new work. He tied this somewhat back to geopolitics, pointing to, for example, how machine shops in the U.S. are looking to reshore and how, at the same time, there is a shortage of skilled workers in manufacturing. 

“Machine shops need to quote faster, program faster, and deliver more with the people and machines they already have,” he said, adding that Quote Agent is set to launch next month. 

“There are more ways to machine a typical CNC part than there are atoms in the universe,” he continued. “We have spent years attacking that specific problem, with our own factory, our own software team, and a lot of hard lessons from real machining. It’s been a long process to get to where we are today.”