CADDi secured $114M in Series D funding reaching a $1.2B valuation, more than double its prior mark, to scale its manufacturing AI data platform and expand in North America.
CADDi raised $114 million in a Series D round at a post money valuation of $1.2 billion. This more than doubles the $470 million valuation reported in its March 2025 Series C extension and brings total equity funding to $234 million (with some trackers citing higher cumulative figures including prior debt).
What is CADDi?
CADDi is a Chicago and Tokyo headquartered manufacturing technology company founded in 2017 by Yushiro Kato (CEO, formerly of McKinsey) and Aki Kobashi (formerly of Apple). It began with tools to scan technical drawings and optimize parts procurement, helping manufacturers avoid redundant purchases of similar components from multiple suppliers. Over time it evolved into a broader “Manufacturing AI Data Platform” that ingests, structures, contextualizes, and connects fragmented engineering, production, CAD, ERP, quality, and related data across the manufacturing value chain.
The platform addresses a core industry problem: decades of knowledge trapped in drawings, CAD files, tribal expertise, and siloed systems that general purpose large language models cannot reliably interpret. CADDi uses proprietary AI models specialized for manufacturing data (including 2D drawings and 3D CAD) alongside general purpose models for documents. Its products include CADDi Explorer (next generation discovery/search, evolved from CADDi Drawer), CADDi Agent (AI that analyzes data, reasons in company specific context, and takes action), and six domain specific workflow products spanning design, procurement, production, quality, and related functions.
The company’s stated vision is to accelerate physical innovation tenfold by 2035 by closing the gap between the rapid progress of digital/AI systems and the slower pace of physical manufacturing (e.g., reducing multi year product cycles). It positions the platform as a manufacturing operating system that enables parallel rather than sequential processes and turns tacit knowledge into reusable organizational assets.
Funding Details and Investors
- Round size and valuation: $114 million Series D at $1.2 billion post money.
- New investors: Moore Strategic Ventures, Coreline Ventures, HR Tech Fund LLC (corporate venture arm of Recruit Holdings), Woven Capital (Toyota’s growth fund), and Salesforce Ventures.
- Existing investors: Atomico, Globis Capital Partners, and JPS Growth Investment Limited Partnership (managed by a Japan Post Bank Asset Management subsidiary).
No single lead investor was named. The mix of strategic corporate and growth stage venture capital reflects confidence in CADDi’s domain expertise and expansion potential. Prior notable rounds include an ~$89 million Series C in 2023 and a $38 million Series C extension (plus debt) in March 2025 led by Atomico at the $470 million valuation.
How will CADDi use the funds?
Funds are allocated to four primary areas:
- Proprietary AI and technology development (including models that natively understand 3D CAD, 2D drawings, and quality data).
- Expansion of the Manufacturing AI Data Platform and product lineup.
- Enhancement of global operations with a primary focus on North America (the world’s second largest manufacturing market), following the official U.S. platform launch.
- Talent acquisition, development, and hiring.
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Traction and Growth Metrics
- Headcount has grown to approximately 900 employees (from ~600 in early 2025).
- Sales are more than doubling year over year.
- Customers span more than 20–22 countries, including many of the largest publicly traded manufacturers in Japan and the United States. More than half of Japan’s 100 largest manufacturers use CADDi.
- Case studies highlight measurable outcomes such as large reductions in investigation time for regulated substances, annual procurement cost savings, and substantial hours saved in engineering workflows.
CEO Yushiro Kato has emphasized that the biggest obstacle is often change management rather than technology, and that the platform delivers returns through lower material costs, shorter lead times, reduced defects, and better knowledge retention as experienced engineers retire.
This round marks CADDi’s arrival as a unicorn and signals strong investor belief that specialized vertical AI for manufacturing can unlock productivity gains in an industry that has lagged digital transformation. Manufacturing data’s complexity (semantics, relationships, constraints, and undigitized records) limits the effectiveness of horizontal AI tools. CADDi’s multi year investment in a data and semantic layer for the sector differentiates it.
The inclusion of strategic backers such as Woven Capital (Toyota) and Salesforce Ventures, alongside continued support from Atomico and long term Japanese investors, supports both product depth and geographic scale. The heavy emphasis on North American expansion builds on existing U.S. customers and offices while leveraging Japan’s proven large manufacturer base.
In the broader industrial AI landscape, CADDi competes in the emerging category of AI platforms that aim to become the intelligence layer across the full manufacturing lifecycle (engineering through quality and aftermarket). Its focus on measurable operational impact and domain specific models positions it to capture value as manufacturers seek to convert fragmented data into faster, higher quality physical innovation.
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