Nominal raises $240M at $3B valuation for AI hardware platform

Nominal, a maker of AI software for hardware engineering, has closed $240 million in Series C funding at a valuation of $3 billion, with Lightspeed Venture Partners leading and Insight Partners co-leading. TechCrunch reported that the deal triples the Austin company's valuation eight months after a Series B extension of $155 million at a $1 billion valuation. Lux Capital, Sequoia, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Lockheed Martin Ventures and others also joined the round.

Nominal said on Monday that revenue has more than tripled since early 2026 and its customer base includes more than 80 commercial and government organizations, five of them among the seven largest defense contractors, according to Resilience Media. The new capital will fund more advanced engineering tools, AI agents for steps such as requirements verification, planning, scheduling and fleet health, and expansion into new industries and regions, the company said. Nominal has already bought Fid Labs, which is building its agents, and Pull Systems, an automotive software specialist, this year.

The platform links hardware data to the engineering context behind it, and Nominal Analyst can examine engineering data and run analyses while showing the evidence behind each answer. Nominal supports cloud, on-premises, air-gapped, and edge deployments, and its developer tools provide access through SQL, APIs, and MCP. Nominal says that more than 300 engineers at Anduril Industries use its software, and work that used to take five to six hours is now completed nearly instantly. At HII, the platform shortened some analysis work from hours to minutes and cut certain production test steps roughly in half. Nominal said the time between uploading data and reviewing results fell by 80% at Hermeus during the seven-month design and build of its Quarterhorse Mk 1 aircraft. The company also works with General Atomics, which is developing autonomous aircraft for the US military, according to Resilience Media.

The company also said the Air Force recently awarded it $71.2 million through a Strategic Funding Increase to assist with Collaborative Combat Aircraft work. Resilience Media reported that the award was $71.2 million in Air Force and Navy funding in October. Nominal competes with European startup PhysicsX and has opened a London office with several key hires, though it has not named European customers. Cameron McCord, Nominal's co-founder and CEO, said in a statement: "Hardware engineering is getting its AI moment, with real operational value that goes far beyond making existing workflows faster."