SimScale provides an AI-native software platform that enables engineers to perform computational fluid dynamics (CFD), finite element analysis (FEA), electromagnetic, and thermal simulations directly through a web browser. David Heiny is the CEO and co-founder of the company, guiding its overarching strategy and technological vision. Pulse 2.0 interviewed SimScale co-founder and CEO David Heiny to learn more.
David Heiny’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Heiny said:
“I’ve always been drawn to understanding the systems that shape the world around us — and finding ways to improve them. That curiosity pushed me toward an interdisciplinary path spanning mathematics, mechanical engineering, and computational science.”
“I earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Munich, then a Master’s in Computational Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech. I also completed an Honors Degree in Technology Management at the Center for Digital Technology and Management, and I graduated from the Bavarian Elite Academy.”
“Today, as CEO and co-founder, I focus on long-term strategy as we look to push the boundaries of what cloud-native simulation and AI-driven engineering workflows can do with our customers.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Heiny shared:
“From very early on, I became fascinated by the role of simulation in engineering and how dramatically it could improve product development. But the deeper I got into the topic, the more I realized a critical problem—the traditional CAE tools necessary to fully utilize simulation were largely inaccessible for many engineering teams.”
“At the same time, those same teams were being asked to move faster than ever using tools built for a different era. That was a clear gap.”
“It was quite a realization. The people who could benefit the most from these tools were often the ones who struggled the most to even get access to them. That’s what really shaped my career trajectory and ultimately led to our team founding SimScale.”
“The idea itself really came together during our time at university. Initially, the five of us founders were exploring the idea of starting a simulation consultancy. But as we dug deeper, that access problem stuck with us. At the same time, cloud computing and SaaS were gaining momentum in the market, and we saw an opportunity to rethink how simulation software could be delivered.”
“We wanted to do something that was more impactful than just another tool. We wanted to bring simulation into a browser-accessible environment, without the need for expensive hardware or complex installations. That was what I would consider to be the foundation for SimScale—democratizing access to high-end engineering simulation for any engineer, regardless of their working environment. Ultimately, we saw that engineering couldn’t scale if simulation remained locked behind complexity and cost.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Heiny reflected:
“It’s been an incredibly rewarding journey from my university days to seeing where SimScale is today. Hearing from engineering teams about how we’ve shaped their operations is core to what drives us. Whenever we get into those customer conversations, the impact is really astounding and inspiring. For example, we’ve had engineering teams tell us that what used to take them months in R&D can now be done in just days, pushing teams closer to achieving near-real-time product design iterations.”
“The business outcomes, cost savings, and productivity improvements are all so rewarding, and are core to why we do what we do. But there’s another element that just makes our work so special. Our customers are actively involved in creating a better world, from the buildings we inhabit to the water we drink.”
“I immediately think of names like Convion, who are shaping the green energy space as a pioneer in solid oxide fuel cell and electrolyzer systems that sit at the heart of the hydrogen economy. Design cycles that used to take months now complete in under an hour, with SimScale’s Physics AI exploring thousands of variants in parallel and surfacing a solution that hit every performance target at half the physical volume. There are also customers like DLR Group, an integrated architecture and engineering firm using cloud-native CFD simulation to optimize the sustainable performance of the buildings where people live, learn, and work, alongside manufacturers reimagining systems for drinking water hygiene such as Kemper”
“Democratizing the simulation process drives us, and every day brings a new, rewarding experience as we see our customers and partners improve the world around us.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Heiny explained:
“At the core of our work is SimScale’s fully cloud-native engineering simulation platform. It runs directly in a browser, making it easy for engineers everywhere to get started quickly. The platform allows engineers to perform a wide range of simulations that span fluid dynamics (CFD), structural analysis (FEA), electromagnetic and thermal simulations, all without needing specialized hardware or complex software installations.”
“That description alludes to what is easily the most significant feature for us: cloud-native architecture. That means that all computation is handled in the cloud, which is a huge game changer for engineering teams. This approach eliminates traditional limitations around local computing power, lets users scale simulations on demand, and natively builds centralized data models – something that is key to accelerating adoption of AI across engineering workflows.”
“At its core, our platform is built to be accessible and collaborative, so that engineering teams can focus on exploring designs, iterating, and innovating. It’s designed to break down many of the traditional constraints that have held back engineering potential for years, allowing teams to work on projects together from anywhere.”
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in your sector of work recently? Heiny acknowledged:
“The engineering space can be skeptical, especially as emerging technologies such as AI break out. Engineering organizations can often be slower to adoption, which has stayed true as AI continues its rise to prominence. At the same time, the shift is happening quickly—according to our recent 2026 State of Engineering AI report, 100% of engineering leaders now rate AI as important in their strategy, even as many organizations are still working to scale it in practice. AI has so much potential and considering our position as a leader in the emerging engineering AI category, it’s important to not just hype it up, but really demonstrate how adoption can benefit engineering teams, without compromising on things like achieving trusted or verifiable outputs.”
“That skepticism is understandable given that engineering projects have very real impacts on the physical world. But at the same time, these technologies present a chance for us all to redefine what it means to shape the world around us. And that’s something that helps inform our approach at SimScale.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Heiny noted:
“Our platform has evolved continuously since day one, which is part of what keeps us relevant and differentiated from the broader industry. When we started, the platform itself was the innovation, growing to support cloud access to multiple types of multi-physics simulations, integrating leading solvers across fluid dynamics, structural, electromagnetic and thermal simulations, while also improving the user experience with more intuitive workflows.”
“More recently, our evolution has centered around Engineering AI and Physics AI. Our solutions today offer native support of agentic AI workflows that can orchestrate simulation setup, execution, design space exploration, and reporting. That allows engineers to avoid wasting time manually configuring every step of a workflow and instead focus on accelerating innovation via evaluating 1000’s of design options in seconds.”
“As our platform continues to shift over time, it’s increasingly designed around understanding engineering intent, allowing teams to define design objectives and constraints before letting the agentic layer intelligently reason through and automate the entire execution workflow. This is already in production and is unlocking orders of magnitude more design improvements for our customers.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Heiny cited:
“Some key milestones include our founding in 2012 and the creation of the first cloud-native platform for engineering simulation. From there, we’ve grown significantly. By 2024, the SimScale platform reached an incredible 600,000 users. Now, in mid 2026, that number has grown close to 900,000 global users.”
“Furthermore, we’ve put a lot of R&D effort into making SimScale the only cloud native engineering ai and physics ai platform for the physical world, enabling users and engineering teams to reshape traditionally complex and time-consuming tasks into automated, efficient processes to transform product engineering.”
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Heiny highlighted:
“We’ve worked with a wide range of organizations across industries. One that comes to mind is Siemens, which used our platform to optimize a complex 3D-printed heat exchanger design. With SimScale, they reduced preprocessing times from hours to seconds, enabling much faster iteration.”
“But many of our customers are driving impact that extends far beyond operational improvements.”
“A really great example of that is our customer, the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO). This organization uses a gravitational wave detector with extremely sensitive mirrors and lasers to detect tiny signals from space. Even the smallest speck of dust can impact its performance, making cleanroom and vacuum chamber design crucial.”
“EGO used SimScale to test different airflow and HVAC designs in 3D before they were built. SimScale’s platform helped EGO find everything from dead spots to turbulence and areas where contaminants could collect. From there, they could adjust things like vent placement to keep clean air moving from top to bottom.”
“Beyond that, we’ve also been able to work with companies like Hephae and Emrgy that are applying SimScale to accelerate innovation in renewable energy.”
“Even in more challenging and remote environments, SimScale is delivering real value. Customers like the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium have been able to leverage SimScale’s platform to design resilient infrastructure in a setting where trust and reliability is extremely important.”
“These are just a few examples of the organizations using SimScale today. While every company’s objective is different, there’s a common thread between all of them—they’re solving real-world engineering challenges with meaningful impact. SimScale enables these businesses to move faster and make better decisions earlier in the design process. That shift gives engineering teams more freedom to innovate and deliver results that improve everything from public health to energy efficiency.”
Funding/Revenue
Are you able to discuss funding and/or revenue metrics? Heiny revealed:
“While we remain a private company and don’t share specific financial metrics, our scale and stability are evidenced by the caliber of our partners. We are fortunate to be backed by industry-defining investors like Insight Partners, Union Square Ventures, and Earlybird Venture Capital. These are the same stewards who have scaled companies like Twitter, Shopify, and HelloFresh. Their continued support is a testament to SimScale’s position as the category leader in cloud-native simulation, and it has allowed us to focus on long-term global growth.”
Total Addressable Market (TAM)
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Heiny assessed:
“We see our addressable market as every engineer, architect, and designer looking to transform engineering innovation, currently limited by legacy hardware. We are moving beyond the traditional high-end simulation niche into a much broader reality: AI-orchestrated, simulation-led engineering. By bringing Engineering AI and Physics AI to firms of all sizes—from global automotive OEMs to mid-market electronics teams—we are effectively expanding the traditional CAE market into a ubiquitous part of the standard engineering toolkit. That’s a massive, untapped market.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Heiny affirmed:
“We’re in a unique position as the only cloud native engineering AI and physics AI solution for the physical world. SimScale integrates agentic engineering directly into simulation workflows to help automate setup, guide methodology, accelerate predictions, and enable engineers to explore thousands of design decisions in seconds, rather than the weeks seen with traditional approaches.”
“Our focus is on delivering a platform that is intuitive, accessible, and native to the environments that engineering teams are already operating with. Engineering is reaching a point where it can’t scale without AI, and that’s exactly what we’re building for.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Heiny concluded:
“At the simplest level, our goal is constant. We want SimScale to be an avenue for engineers to develop the best products they possibly can. As we look toward the future, our goal, aside from continuing to evolve and improve the SimScale platform, is to democratize simulation and lead the transformational wave of AI engineering adoption.”
“By empowering engineers to explore more design variants, we don’t just lower costs—we improve performance. This leads to better physical outcomes for the products that shape our daily lives.”
