Nominal announced it has raised $80 million in a Series B-2 acceleration round led by Founders Fund, valuing the company at $1 billion and making the hardware engineering software startup a unicorn.
The Los Angeles-based company develops a connected testing and operations platform designed for hardware engineering teams. The new funding round also included participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital, General Catalyst, Lightspeed, and Red Glass.
Nominal said the funding will help accelerate the development of tools to make hardware engineering teams more AI-ready as industries such as aerospace, defense, energy, and autonomous systems expand their use of complex physical technologies.
The platform connects the full hardware data supply chain, linking instrumentation and data acquisition with analysis, reporting, and operational decision-making. Nominal’s software is used by engineering teams building aircraft, satellites, autonomous vehicles, fusion energy systems, and other advanced systems where reliability and real-world performance are critical.
Company leaders say the tools engineers rely on should match the complexity and stakes of the systems they build. Nominal positions its platform as infrastructure for modern hardware development programs where testing, validation, and operational feedback are essential.
The company noted that it had not been actively seeking additional capital before the new round. The investment came roughly ten months after Nominal closed a $75 million Series B round led by Sequoia Capital.
Nominal has experienced rapid growth, reporting a sevenfold increase in revenue year over year and expanding its workforce from 43 employees to 135. The company now serves thousands of engineers daily and supports more than 60 customers running mission-critical hardware programs worldwide.
During the past year, Nominal expanded its product capabilities with real-time operational workflows through Nominal Core and launched Nominal Connect, a system designed to automate and integrate modern hardware testing environments.
The company has also expanded internationally, opening a London office to meet growing European demand. Nominal said its software has become a core infrastructure platform for the defense industrial base, with four of the world’s five largest defense contractors using the system.
With the new funding, Nominal plans to accelerate product development, expand its global footprint, and pursue strategic acquisitions and new business lines across the hardware data ecosystem.
Founded to modernize engineering workflows for complex hardware systems, Nominal aims to build long-term infrastructure for industries undergoing what the company describes as an industrial renaissance driven by physical AI, reshored manufacturing, and advanced defense technologies.
KEY QUOTES
“We weren’t raising, but Trae Stephens at Founders Fund came to us with an offer for the resources to accelerate our progress. When Founders Fund tells you they see every product in the category and they’re choosing you, you listen.”
Cameron McCord, Co-Founder And CEO, Nominal
“We’re not building a point solution. Nominal is building the next great industrial software company. We’re building the tools modern hardware companies will run on for the next fifty years. That means earning trust, compounding reliability, and, often, becoming invisible through performance.”
Cameron McCord, Co-Founder And CEO, Nominal
“The decision to lead the round was driven by direct feedback from founders and engineering teams across Founders Fund’s portfolio, including Anduril. Founders rarely agree on tooling, so when multiple portfolio companies and our entire engineering team at Anduril independently told us Nominal had become essential infrastructure, the decision was obvious. This is software built for programs where getting it right actually matters.”
Trae Stephens, Partner, Founders Fund And Co-Founder, Anduril
“Engineers building complex systems shouldn’t have to work around their tools. Nominal removes that friction to give teams both speed and reliability. Cameron and the team understand what engineers actually need to build safely and quickly in today’s industrial renaissance.”
Alfred Lin, Partner, Sequoia Capital And Nominal Board Member
