Its founder, just five months after launching the elusive technology Configuration parts has secured $9 million in funding led by Founders Fund to transform composites manufacturing. Lux Capital and Haystack also participated.
The alarming pace is more than a subtle signal that investors’ appetite for tech-focused solutions to the woes of the US industrial base is not waning. But Layup was likely able to close a major funding round so quickly, at least in part because the founders themselves have deep experience with the issues that affect domestic manufacturing.
Layup was founded by Zach Aiken, Hino Capen and Alyssa Suarez. The trio met while working at The Boring Company, Elon Musk’s extraordinary effort to revolutionize transportation through tunnels. Kappin started working at robotic pizzeria Stellar Pizza, while Suarez worked at Raven and renewable energy company Heliogen.
Eakin, Layup’s CEO, moved to Andorel in 2021 as director of mechanical engineering. He headed the mechanical design of the company’s suite of flying drone products, including the Roadrunner, which was just “a Palmer.” [Luckey] idea when I started,” he said in a recent interview.
Aiken would still be with Andorel, he says, if it weren’t for the idea of finding the layup. “It was born out of a need that we had at Andoril — a need that made the world toxic during my time there,” he said.
Most areas of manufacturing have changed during Aiken’s career, except for composites, he said. Companies such as Protolabs, Xometry and Fictiv have innovated processes such as CNC-machining, sheet metal cutting and injection molding. These companies (and many others) have created a frictionless, almost Amazon-like experience for rapidly developing hardware, and it’s left a lasting mark on the industry.
But there has been no equivalent innovation in the manufacture of composite parts. Aiken said there are a few reasons for this. The first is that current composite manufacturers are not well leveraged to develop the software tools needed to do this well. Another is that compositions are more artistic and less easily automated at certain stages of the process. So bringing the number of humans in the manufacturing loop closer to zero is inherently more difficult.
The Road Runner is a good example: it has a lot of composite components, but getting those components is time-consuming and expensive. It’s common for an engineer to wait up to two weeks to get a quote back from the manufacturer (as opposed to 10 minutes with a service like ProtoLabs); After placing a purchase order with a supplier, the wait can stretch from a week or two for a small and simple part, to four or five months for a more complex or large item.
Instead, Layup aims to return small parts in three days, and for larger components, the company aims for two weeks — all at a lower cost to the customer. “I think we can be 10 times faster, and on tooling and upfront cost, we can be half of what you would normally pay today,” Aiken estimated.
In general, Aiken didn’t seem too concerned about the competition. Many of the top composites companies are owned by PE firms, he said, and those firms tend to focus on large, long-term contracts rather than rapid turnaround development programs.
“I believe tomorrow’s long-term, high-value contracts are in development today,” he said. “If you work with people in development, and you understand their needs, and you can provide them with quality parts, you’ll provide a better service and focus on that.” While doing so will put them in a better position to get deals that can make sense in the boardroom, which is focused on growth and momentum.”
The bulk of the work ahead for the company, and where it will be able to differentiate itself most strongly, is in the software domain, although it will be a few years before Layup offers any CAD models to users. could not accept and contribute to it. But that doesn’t mean the company isn’t moving fast: With the new funding, Layup aims to have a factory making parts for customers online by the end of the third quarter of this year. Have to keep.
That means the $9 million will primarily go toward capital costs like a bigger building and more equipment, as well as hiring both the software side and factory floor technicians.
There has been much talk from Silicon Valley about the many problems facing the U.S. industrial base — often idiosyncratic — including an aging workforce and an over-reliance on tribal knowledge. But Aiken said what really motivates him is thinking about all the engineering students who are itching to get into construction but face huge barriers to entry because of outdated processes. Leap is trying to change that.
“The idea of being able to provide that to young students so they can realize the things they want to create — that’s what really excites me about what we’re doing. That’s what That’s what I think has happened with all these other areas of manufacturing and composites have been left behind. Even if we’re fixing the supply chain, the aging demographics, we’ll do the same. It’s great. What impresses me is the ability to bring good mix parts and make it available to all people.
Credit : techcrunch.com
