Arda Industries has emerged from stealth with $232 million in total funding to develop AI software that helps manufacturers turn new product designs into working assembly lines and update those lines as designs change. The company is targeting a long-term vision of robotic assembly lines that can adapt at software speed.
Arda’s financing includes a $160 million Series A at a $1.5 billion valuation, co-led by Altimeter, Accel, and Khosla Ventures, with participation from XYZ Venture Capital, 8VC, SV Angel, and Felicis. The round follows a $72 million seed led by Accel and Founders Fund, with Khosla Ventures and XYZ Venture Capital also participating.
The company’s AI agent reads CAD files and other design artifacts and generates manufacturing-engineering work that would otherwise require teams to determine assembly order, write work instructions, and lay out production stations. Arda said the software is already deployed at Anduril Industries through its ArsenalOS manufacturing software.
According to Arda, basic work instructions that previously took 10 hours can be produced in about 15 minutes, while more complex engineering workflows that could take up to 30 hours have been reduced to roughly 2.5 hours. The company is initially focused on defense and the data-center supply chain, including manufacturers of transformers and electrical equipment.
Arda is also prototyping AI agents that can program robots to execute its assembly plans. The goal is to reduce the months of custom engineering often required to reprogram automation when products change. Arda will use the funding to expand engineering and research, grow deployments across manufacturing sectors, and develop robotics models for automated assembly.
“I kept asking: why can we design the next generation of products in America, but not build them here? When a product changes every year, the factory has to be able to change with it. Manufacturing leaders told me their products change constantly, and manufacturing engineering can’t keep pace. Their designs change at software speed, but their factories don’t. So, we built the technology platform that solves this problem. Today, U.S. manufacturers designing innovative consumer hardware products at scale can only make them in Asia. Imagine a fully automated version of Shenzhen in West Texas – that’s what we want to make possible.”
Bob McGrew, Founder And CEO Of Arda
“Our manufacturing engineers are doing two hard things at once. They’re keeping up with design teams that iterate constantly, and they’re scaling production to meet demand. Arda helps them get design changes onto the floor faster and catch potential issues sooner. We would be behind on our production goals without it.”
Matt Grimm, Co-Founder And COO Of Anduril Industries
