Westmag, an American manufacturer of drone motors and robot actuators, announced that it has emerged from stealth with $11 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Founders Fund, Lux Capital, NFDG, Menlo Ventures, and other investors.
The company, whose name is short for Western Magnetics Company, completed the financing in 2025 and has since focused on expanding industrial capacity, securing suppliers, and validating its products through partnerships with high-volume customers. Westmag is now ramping production at Factory 01, its manufacturing facility and headquarters in South San Francisco, California, to fulfill committed orders totaling hundreds of thousands of units.
Westmag is targeting a critical segment of the robotics and drone supply chain. Drones typically rely on multiple electric motors, while advanced robots, including humanoids, can require more than 20 actuators with embedded motors. The company noted that production of many of these components has historically been concentrated in China, creating supply chain vulnerabilities for Western manufacturers.
To address this challenge, Westmag is building a vertically integrated manufacturing platform that combines product design, production, and supply chain operations. The company designs, winds, assembles, and validates motors and actuators at its South San Francisco facility using a shared manufacturing architecture intended to support both product categories. This approach is designed to help the company scale production across a broad range of applications while maintaining cost efficiency.
Westmag is also developing a supply chain that includes suppliers in the United States and allied countries, including Japan. In addition, the company is investing in upstream industrial capabilities such as stator steel stamping and rare earth magnet finishing to improve cost control and supply chain resilience.
The company has initially focused on working directly with high-volume customers through supply offtake agreements, enabling it to rapidly build manufacturing capacity. Over time, Westmag plans to expand its portfolio of standardized motor and actuator products to serve a broader customer base across the drone, robotics, and automation sectors.
According to the company, growing demand from drones, humanoid robots, quadrupeds, and other mobile robotic systems is expected to drive substantial demand for high-performance motors and actuators over the coming years. Westmag aims to establish itself as a large-scale domestic supplier capable of supporting that growth.
The company is currently hiring across manufacturing, supply chain, engineering, automation, sales, and operations functions at its South San Francisco headquarters.
KEY QUOTES:
“Most of the hardware, especially the motors and actuators that actually bring motion to physical AI, has been built outside of the U.S. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Westmag is aggregating the rising demand to quickly scale production capacity and become the trusted supplier of high performance, cost effective motors and actuators.”
David Hansen, Co-Founder And CEO, Westmag
“Western drone and robot companies should benefit from the compounding advantages of reliable, cost effective domestic component supply. That’s why we’re building Westmag to be the great American motor company serving the global market.”
Jordan Sanders, Co-Founder And COO, Westmag
“Motors and actuators are the muscle of physical AI, and right now America’s share of that muscle is essentially zero. Without a domestic industry, every American drone company, every robotics company and every defense prime is building on a foundation they do not control. David and Jordan understand that the win condition is not a marginally better motor. It is the ability to make a lot of them, here, on a platform that serves both drones and robots.”
Erin Price-Wright, General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz
