Flux, an AI-powered hardware design platform, announced $37 million in new investment, including a $27 million Series B round led by 8VC with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Outsiders Fund. The company also disclosed a previously unannounced $10 million Series A led by Outsiders Fund and co-led by Bain Capital Ventures.
Based in San Francisco, Flux describes itself as the world’s first AI hardware engineer. The platform is trained on hundreds of thousands of real-world designs and fine-tuned for common hardware design tasks. Using natural language prompts, Flux’s AI agent collaborates with users to plan circuit board layouts, source components, test designs, and generate the files required for manufacturing. The system also recommends ways to minimize costs and reduce supply chain risks, all within a web browser environment.
The company said more than 1 million makers, designers, and entrepreneurs have used Flux to design nearly 6.5 million devices, ranging from wearables and robots to smart home controllers and drone navigation systems. Customers have leveraged the platform for diverse applications, including developing IoT devices for construction machinery, shipping custom electronics throughout Africa, and building IoT-enabled organ-on-chip platforms for drug discovery and biological barrier modeling.
Flux positions its platform as an alternative to traditional hardware development pathways, where businesses either hire electrical engineers to design printed circuit boards from scratch or purchase off-the-shelf OEM components. By delivering custom PCB layouts at near-material costs, Flux aims to reduce the need for complex multi-board integrations, enabling faster production cycles and simpler field maintenance.
The company plans to use the new capital to expand its AI capabilities to address more complex electronic use cases, further broadening access to hardware design for non-experts and smaller businesses.
KEY QUOTES
“With Flux, you can have a brilliant idea one day and hold the finished product in your hand a few weeks later. Historically, building hardware has been insanely difficult. When you’re working with atoms instead of electrons, everything costs more and takes longer. Those limitations have always kept hardware in the hands of an elite few. By bringing the cost of design down to near-zero, we’re giving millions of non-experts the ability to build for niche audiences—or make something for themselves. The electronics business has always been structured around giant manufacturers. Now, for the first time, Flux puts creators at the center.”
Matthias Wagner, CEO of Flux
“We wrote Flux’s first check when they were only a few founders with an audacious vision to transform hardware design. Seven years later, they’re redefining who can build electronic hardware. Their market is not simply electrical engineers designing PCBs. It’s the universe of makers from individuals to businesses to whole industries. We’re privileged to renew our support.”
Francisco Gimenez, Partner at 8VC
