- Physna — a geometric deep-learning and 3D search solutions company — announced that it raised $20 million in Series B funding. These are the details.
Physna — a geometric deep-learning and 3D search solutions company — announced that it raised $20 million in Series B funding. This round of funding was led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Drive Capital — which led Physna’s Series A round in 2019. And the funds will be used to grow the team and increase development to meet Physna’s growing demand. Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire is joining the board of directors with the latest funding round. Including this round of funding, the company has raised $29 million.
3D search has been known to be a crucial problem as there has been no simple and efficient way to search using the actual 3D model of a physical part like a CAD model or 3D scan. And when that part is a component of something larger like matching a screw to an assembly, it is even more challenging, thus leading to cost and time-consuming issues.
Physna was launched in 2016 with the principle that computers can be taught to “think” in 3D and accurately describe the physical world around us. And using complex mathematical analyses and advanced geometric deep learning technology, Physna codifies 3D models into detailed data that is understandable by software applications.
Along with Physna’s enterprise solution, the company powers a free search engine for consumers called Thangs.com. Thangs is an easy to use search tool for physical object and 3D model search, thus allowing users to search with models directly rather than relying on text.
Thangs provides the world’s first global geometric search and smart automated collaboration tool. And since launching in August of 2020, hundreds of thousands of people have used Thangs to improve their workflow in everything from product design to 3D printing, with AR/VR model compatibility soon to follow.
The Physna team continues to add features at a fast pace with the announcement of significant updates to Thangs including support for more complex content types beyond simple 3D models. And Thangs now supports assembly files from virtually any platform, allowing users to upload massive assemblies alongside their sub-assemblies and components.
KEY QUOTES:
“Paul and the Physna team have developed a breakthrough platform that enables intuitive search of 3D models for the first time. With the amount of 3D data in the world about to explode, Physna will be the way this data is organized and accessed—ultimately, becoming the GitHub for 3D models.”
— Shaun Maguire, partner at Sequoia
“Physna has enabled a quantum leap in technology by allowing software to truly understand physical 3D data. By merging the physical with the digital, we have unlocked massive and ever-growing opportunities in everything from geometric search to 3D machine learning and predictions. Having both Sequoia and Drive endorse this next-generation of search and machine learning helps Physna empower even more technical innovations for our customers and the market as a whole.”
— Paul Powers, CEO and founder of Physna
