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<h5 class="">Originally featured on <a href="https://www.designworldonline.com/voices/voices-jeremy-holt-strategic-advisor-at-caddi/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Design World</a></h5> Sponsored by <a href="http://us.caddi.com/company?ref=US-PR-2026-Q4-WTWH-DesignWorld-Voices7-SC" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">CADDi</a>. In this VOICES interview, Design World spoke to Jeremy Holt, strategic advisor at CADDi, to learn how the right software helps companies save costs throughout design, development and production, by modernizing their systems and ensuring the right data is available at the right time. Design World: Tell us a bit about your background and your role at CADDi. Jeremy Holt: I’m a former automotive and vehicle industry supplier executive. I ran several different companies focused on engineering, transmission manufacturing and component manufacturing, in every form from startup to private to publicly owned. My entire career has focused on producing highly engineered products, some of which have complex assemblies or go into complex assemblies, such as powertrains in the automotive world.I have now moved into doing consulting work for clients, and CADDi is a key client for me in the AI software space. I previously ran a technical software business at Ricardo, the engineering consultancy, that did engineering simulation. I bring that manufacturing technology and industry experience into CADDi to help them deploy their software more effectively. What aspects of CADDi resonate with your experience designing, developing and manufacturing engineered products for the automotive space? The CADDi software is purpose-designed for highly engineered products. It applies upstream for designing, developing and producing new products or managing legacy products, including the aftermarket. Also compelling is the speed and insight that you can get from data that already exists within the organization which, in my experience, is often very time- and resource-intensive to access and leverage in a manual environment where you’re asking people to go and find data from different systems.What CADDi can do is connect the dots between those dissimilar systems, and legacy or longtail data, so that you can bring it to the surface, gain insights and make good decisions. Not slowly by adding work to people’s to-do list, but instantly by leveraging the data yourself without bothering engineers or other people to accumulate that information and insight for you. What opportunities do you see in aftermarket and legacy product line management? The relevance is greatest where data sits stagnant. It might be in a drawing format, or maybe it was never digitized but is lost somewhere, and to go find that data is very difficult. This means in the aftermarket, you may end up with duplication, or opportunities for consolidation are undiscovered. There might be information, parts and tooling out there that you don’t know already exists and identifying parts the company has already designed, tooled and qualified avoids paying for that work twice. Designing a new part with backward compatibility to earlier service parts is a real opportunity.For example, transmission manufacturers who have been making transmissions for 30 years have a lot of parts, with a lot of service parts and possibly several design changes along the way. With CADDi, you can dive into that data, and with the right questions can find actionable insights and save time, work, tooling investment and labor investment by leveraging that existing data. Cost is a constant focus in manufactured products. How can an AI data platform help achieve costing goals? On costing, you can bring all of that data to the surface and do more accurate costing faster. Connect the design, development and product data with commercial data from dissimilar systems: costing, pricing and actual production data. Together, that might tell you can make 100 parts an hour when you thought you could make 200, and perpetuate erroneous costing. In many companies, the costing system has a formula, a model. That model could be wrong, and you might be providing bad quotes by using that model and not realizing that it doesn’t work when you get to the manufacturing floor. The CADDi system, as it relates to cost, can bring that shop-floor production data into the data set with the costing data and allow you to adjust the models to meet the reality of making similar parts. More informed, more accurate and faster costing is one of the key benefits of the CADDi software. Some software platforms find certain capabilities hard to implement. How does CADDi approach that challenge, and how does it work with current PLM or CAD systems? That’s one of the other compelling value propositions for CADDi: it’s very easy to get started. The general approach is to start with a manageable data set that you can put into the CADDi environment, and use that to prove a use case in a manageable deployment. They run a pilot study very quickly, generally at no significant cost, and prove that you can find new insights even in a limited data set. That value can then be expanded by adding more information from different environments and systems.A larger data set surfaces more of these connections and points to the next problem worth solving. You can then continue expanding the systems that can access information through the CADDi software, so that you can have a progressive deployment with very early wins during the process, and compelling future opportunities.I think the Subaru case study example is a good one. They started with one department using the software, and after less than one year — only 50 weeks — 50 departments were using the CADDi software with expanded data and amplified value. CADDi assigns an engineer to help deploy the software, which is how companies get early wins. For engineering and enterprise leaders who know they need to modernize upstream operations but don’t know where to start, what’s the first step? What should they expect early versus later? The first step is easy, because you don’t have to restructure any data or system to work with CADDi. Simply provide access to your data. CADDi locates that data and maps the relationships between dissimilar systems: ERP, PLM, development spreadsheets, documents, production data and quality reports.The downstream manufacturing can then have access to all that data without restructuring anything. They can see into your existing system of record and provide opportunities to attain insights from all of that information by allowing the manufacturing operations to see across that data and use it to make better decisions about implementing their production. In fact, many people across the organization can start to leverage information they couldn’t see before.Early in the deployment, put questions to your own data. Ask what a part cost the last three times you bought it, which suppliers quoted it and what the quality records came back with. Cross-functional associates can explore the data and find things that they didn’t know, or discover insights that are useful for decision making, allowing deeper probing into company pain points or opportunities.One example might be that if you can look at maintenance records and downtime records, you can tie a specific part to the machine problem it causes, and fix the cause instead of the symptom. Downstream, you can expect to get higher productivity, lower scrap rates and simpler changeovers because you can choose the right parts to change over from. These benefits can be optimized and monetized for improved financial performance from the manufacturing operation, as well as putting pressure on upstream processes to improve design for manufacturing. For engineering and manufacturing, most of a part’s cost is determined in design, long before a supplier is chosen. The teams that manage cost best are the ones whose engineers can see what the company has already qualified and paid for while the design is still open. That is the window where value analysis and value engineering (VA/VE) can impact the bottom line. Once a part is released, the options narrow and most of the savings are already committed. Read the white paper <a href="https://us.caddi.com/resources/whitepaper/value-analysis-value-engineering-for-manufacturing?ref=US-PR-2026-Q4-WTWH-DesignWorld-Voices7-SC" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">Value Analysis &amp; Value Engineering for Manufacturing: The Challenges and Solutions of Implementation</a>. <a href="https://www.designworldonline.com/voices/voices-yushiro-kato-co-founder-and-ceo-caddi/?ref=US-PR-2026-Q4-WTWH-DesignWorld-Voices7-SC" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">Yushiro Kato</a>, co-founder and CEO at CADDi offers a related perspective in a recent Design World interview.CADDi is a global manufacturing technology company driven by the vision to accelerate physical innovation tenfold. Headquartered in Chicago and Tokyo, the company was founded in 2017 by industry veterans Yushiro Kato and Aki Kobashi, formerly of McKinsey and Apple. CADDi currently serves manufacturing businesses in more than 20 countries, including many of the largest publicly traded companies in Japan and the United States. To learn more, visit <a href="http://us.caddi.com/company?ref=US-PR-2026-Q4-WTWH-DesignWorld-Voices7-SC" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">caddi.com</a> or <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/caddiinc/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">follow the conversation on LinkedIn</a>.

VOICES: Jeremy Holt, Strategic Advisor at CADDi - Design World

Originally featured in <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2026/09/16/caddi-manufacturing-funding-billion-valuation.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chicago Business Journal</a>

AI manufacturing startup Caddi hits $1.2B valuation with $114M funding round

<h5 class="">Originally featured on <a href="https://pulse2.com/caddi-raises-114-million-series-d-at-1-2-billion-valuation/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">Pulse 2.0</a></h5> CADDi has raised $114 million in Series D funding at a $1.2 billion valuation as the manufacturing technology company expands its AI-powered data platform globally. The financing increases CADDi’s total funding to $234 million.New investors in the round include Moore Strategic Ventures, Coreline Ventures, HR Tech Fund, Woven Capital and Salesforce Ventures. Existing backers Atomico, Globis Capital Partners and JPS Growth Investment also participated.CADDi plans to allocate the capital toward proprietary AI and technology development, expansion of its Manufacturing AI Data Platform, global business growth centered on North America and talent recruitment and development.The Chicago- and Tokyo-based company is building a data and intelligence layer for manufacturers whose information has historically been fragmented across engineering, procurement, production and quality systems.Its Manufacturing AI Data Platform analyzes, structures, contextualizes and connects manufacturing information, while domain-specific workflow applications use that shared data foundation to support decision-making across the value chain.CADDi argues that general-purpose AI has difficulty working directly with manufacturing information because the industry depends on complex relationships, technical semantics and constraints that often exist in separate systems or remain undocumented.The company is increasingly positioning its platform as the semantic foundation that AI agents need to reason over decades of engineering and production knowledge.CADDi now serves manufacturers in more than 20 countries, including major publicly traded companies in Japan and the U.S. Its official U.S. platform launch represents a broader push into the world’s second-largest manufacturing market. <h4 class="">KEY QUOTES:</h4>“AI only delivers where a data layer and a semantic layer already exist. In manufacturing that layer is buried in information fragmented across departments and in records that were never digitized at all, which is why horizontal tooling never reaches it.”<h5 class="">Kenichiro Hara, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Coreline Ventures</h5> “CADDi is evolving from solving individual manufacturing workflows to building the intelligence layer for the entire manufacturing lifecycle. Its new AI-native data platform connects engineering, procurement, production and quality through a shared semantic data foundation, giving AI agents the context to reason across decades of fragmented manufacturing knowledge.”<h5 class="">Luca Eisenstecken, Partner at Atomico</h5>

CADDi Raises $114 Million Series D At $1.2 Billion Valuation

Funding will accelerate the global expansion of CADDi’s next-generation Manufacturing AI Data Platform CHICAGO, Sept. 16, 2026 — <a href="/en-us/?ref=US-PR-2026-Q4-CADDi-Series-D-Funding-NPI" rel="noopener noreferrer">CADDi</a>, the global technology company that develops the CADDi Manufacturing AI Data Platform, today announced that it has entered into definitive agreements for $114 million at a $1.2 billion valuation in Series D funding, with eight new and existing investors participating, including Moore Strategic Ventures and Coreline Ventures. This funding brings CADDi's total funding to $234 million. Funding overview:● Series D Round Size: $114 million● New Investors: Moore Strategic Ventures, Coreline Ventures, HR Tech Fund LLC*, Woven Capital, and Salesforce Ventures● Existing Investors: Atomico, Globis Capital Partners, JPS Growth Investment Limited Partnership** <h2>Fueling what’s next for manufacturing in the AI era</h2>CADDi is headquartered in Chicago and Tokyo, and is led by Yushiro Kato, co-founder and CEO. In an essay recently published on CADDi's corporate website, titled <a href="https://caddi.com/en-us/essay/2609" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"Materialization — Making Things in the Age of AI,"</a> Kato wrote, "Over thirty years we made the world of bits more than a hundred times faster. The world of atoms moved at roughly the same speed in most industries. In the AI era, the gap widens further. Even if AI makes thinking ten thousand times faster and produces ten thousand times the theory, the upside from AI gets diluted in the physical world if it still takes four years to mass-produce cars. Solving physical limits means solving this asymmetry."Kato believes the key lies in transitioning manufacturing from sequential execution to parallel processing. In a world where processes that were once executed step-by-step now run simultaneously, a common platform that enables humans and AI across departments to draw on the same information and context becomes indispensable. However, manufacturing data contains highly complex semantics, relationships, and constraints that general-purpose AI cannot adequately address. Domain-specific vertical AI capable of mapping data semantics is essential. The funds raised will be allocated across four areas:● Proprietary AI and technology development● Expansion of the Manufacturing AI Data Platform● Enhancement of global business operations centered on North America● Investment in talent acquisition and development "AI only delivers where a data layer and a semantic layer already exist. In manufacturing that layer is buried in information fragmented across departments and in records that were never digitized at all, which is why horizontal tooling never reaches it,” said Ken Hara, partner at Coreline Ventures. “CADDi has spent four years building it, with some of the most demanding manufacturers in the world as its first customers. Knowledge that lived only in individual experience is becoming an asset the organization, and in time the industry, can use.”“Eighteen months ago, we backed CADDi because we believed they had the potential to build one of the defining AI companies in manufacturing. Since then, that conviction has only grown,” said Luca Eisenstecken, Partner at Atomico. “CADDi is evolving from solving individual manufacturing workflows to building the intelligence layer for the entire manufacturing lifecycle. Its new AI-native data platform connects engineering, procurement, production and quality through a shared semantic data foundation, giving AI agents the context to reason across decades of fragmented manufacturing knowledge. The ambition is enormous, the execution has been exceptional and we’re thrilled to deepen our partnership with Yushiro, Aki and the team for the decade ahead.” <h2>CADDi previews next-generation platform technology</h2>Kato emphasized, “As artificial intelligence pushes past the boundaries of intelligence, the gap between what is conceptualized and what is implemented in the physical world widens. We see this as a broader human challenge that goes well beyond manufacturing: ʻphysical limits.’"CADDi announced the next-generation Manufacturing AI Data Platform in Japan in August 2026 to serve as this foundational platform, initiating the global products release. “At our CADDi Unleash 2026 event, we presented a renewed vision: to overcome physical limits and accelerate physical innovation tenfold. That is our priority from here on, and this commitment is what guided both our recent product rebrand and the development of new products we are bringing to our U.S. customers,” said Kato.Designed as a manufacturing operating system, <a href="/en-us/platform/?ref=US-PR-2026-Q4-CADDi-Series-D-Funding-NPI" rel="noopener noreferrer">CADDi</a> provides a semantic structure to fragmented data, enabling human and AI workflows to run on shared data without manual handoffs. The new product, CADDi Explorer, is a manufacturing discovery engine and the next-generation version of CADDi Drawer. CADDi Agent is a new AI agent that analyzes manufacturing data, makes decisions, and takes action within each company's operating context. CADDi will also offer six domain-specific Workflow Products spanning the manufacturing value chain, enhancing decision-making and execution to drive business-critical impact.The platform's official U.S. launch signals CADDi's full-scale expansion into the United States, the world's second-largest manufacturing market. <h3>About CADDi</h3>CADDi is a global manufacturing technology company driven by the vision to accelerate physical innovation tenfold. Headquartered in Chicago and Tokyo, the company was founded in 2017 by industry veterans Yushiro Kato and Aki Kobashi, formerly of McKinsey and Apple, respectively. CADDi currently serves manufacturing businesses in more than 20 countries, including many of the largest publicly traded companies in Japan and the United States. Total funding stands at $234 million, valuing the company at $1.2 billion.CADDi’s Manufacturing AI Data Platform analyzes, structures, contextualizes, and connects data that has historically been fragmented across the manufacturing value chain. With a proprietary AI model, CADDi offers domain-specific Workflow Products spanning the manufacturing value chain, enhancing decision-making and execution to drive business-critical impact. To learn more, visit <a href="/content/caddi.com/en-us" rel="noopener noreferrer">caddi.com</a>. <h3>Media Contact</h3>Milbien MedinaSenior Manager, Brand Marketing at CADDi<a href="mailto:milbien_medina@caddi.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">milbien_medina@caddi.com</a> View digital copy of this release, including a full list of investor comments on CADDi’s news page: <a href="/en-us/news/?ref=US-PR-2026-Q4-CADDi-Series-D-Funding-NPI" rel="noopener noreferrer">caddi.com/en-us/news</a> *HR Tech Fund LLC is a corporate venture capital entity under Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.*JPS Growth Investment Limited Partnership and JPS Growth II Investment Limited Partnership, managed by a subsidiary of Japan Post Bank Asset Management Co., Ltd. <img src="https://cdn.builder.io/api/v1/image/assets%2F209ee507cedf4c298e100edae4bba2df%2F7cde983fcf1d441e947366100e384172"> <h4>Michiko Kato, Chief Investment Officer &amp; Partner, Woven Capital</h4>Manufacturers hold decades of engineering knowledge in their specifications, past project records, and the day-to-day decisions of design, sourcing, and production. Much of it is hard to draw on at the moment it is needed, and as experienced engineers retire, that knowledge becomes harder to pass on.CADDi has built the platform to structure that knowledge and make it retrievable and usable at scale, with the accuracy required to inform real engineering decisions. As AI becomes more capable of handling the complexity and precision these workflows demand, it is this kind of domain-specific intelligence that we believe will define the next era of manufacturing. The company is already helping leading global manufacturers address some of the industry’s most enduring priorities, from reducing defects to shortening lead times and lowering cost, and we are excited to support CADDi on their journey. <h4>Kenichiro Hara, Co-Founder Managing Partner at Coreline Ventures</h4>Coreline is investing in CADDi again at scale. My history with the company goes back further than the firm does. I led CADDi's seed, Series A, and Series A extension, three consecutive rounds, and served on the board through the company's early years. I was in the boardroom when CADDi decided to make the data platform the whole company, setting aside the business it was founded on. Few companies make that call, and fewer make it work. AI only delivers where a data layer and a semantic layer already exist. In manufacturing that layer is buried in information fragmented across departments and in records that were never digitized at all, which is why horizontal tooling never reaches it. CADDi has spent four years building it, with some of the most demanding manufacturers in the world as its first customers. Knowledge that lived only in individual experience is becoming an asset the organization, and in time the industry, can use. What gets built on that foundation, in pursuit of accelerating physical innovation tenfold, is what will make CADDi a global company. <h4>Luca Eisenstecken, Partner at Atomico</h4>Eighteen months ago, we backed CADDi because we believed they had the potential to build one of the defining AI companies in manufacturing. Since then, that conviction has only grown. CADDi is now deeply embedded with many of the world’s most sophisticated manufacturers across Japan, the US and Europe, with customers expanding the platform across teams, workflows and geographies, while the company continues to grow at exceptional speed and efficiency.What excites us even more is what comes next. CADDi is evolving from solving individual manufacturing workflows to building the intelligence layer for the entire manufacturing lifecycle. Its new AI-native data platform connects engineering, procurement, production and quality through a shared semantic data foundation, giving AI agents the context to reason across decades of fragmented manufacturing knowledge. The ambition is enormous, the execution has been exceptional and we’re thrilled to deepen our partnership with Yushiro, Aki and the team for the decade ahead. <h4>Emre Hidekazu Yuasa, Partner, Globis Capital Partners</h4>Since our Series A investment in 2018, this Series D marks our fourth investment in CADDi. World-class growth, proven traction in the U.S. market, and the bold vision behind the AI data platform unveiled recently all give us confidence that CADDi's rapid growth is far from over. Having now become a unicorn, we see this as merely a waypoint toward decacorn and beyond, and we will continue to fully support CADDi's ambitious challenge in the global manufacturing industry.

CADDi Raises $114 Million in Series D at $1.2 Billion Valuation

<h5 class="">Originally featured on <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/caddi-raises-114-million-series-130000779.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">Yahoo Finance</a></h5> CHICAGO, September 16, 2026--(<a href="https://www.businesswire.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">BUSINESS WIRE</a>)--<a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcaddi.com%2Fen-us%2F%3Fref%3DUS-PR-2026-Q4-CADDi-Series-D-Funding-NPI&amp;esheet=54605181&amp;newsitemid=20260916456307&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=CADDi&amp;index=1&amp;md5=7efaf94a60b6e4e121979efd8d74617e" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">CADDi</a>, the global technology company that develops the CADDi Manufacturing AI Data Platform, today announced that it has entered into definitive agreements for $114 million at a $1.2 billion valuation in Series D funding, with eight new and existing investors participating, including Moore Strategic Ventures and Coreline Ventures. This funding brings CADDi's total funding to $234 million.Funding overview:<ul class=""><li class="">Series D Round Size: $114 million</li><li class="">New Investors: Moore Strategic Ventures, Coreline Ventures, HR Tech Fund LLC*, Woven Capital, and Salesforce Ventures</li><li class="">Existing Investors: Atomico, Globis Capital Partners, JPS Growth Investment Limited Partnership**</li></ul> <h2 class="">Fueling what's next for manufacturing in the AI era</h2>CADDi is headquartered in Chicago and Tokyo, and is led by Yushiro Kato, co-founder and CEO. In an essay recently published on CADDi's corporate website, titled <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcaddi.com%2Fen-us%2Fessay%2F2609&amp;esheet=54605181&amp;newsitemid=20260916456307&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=%26quot%3BMaterialization+%26%238212%3B+Making+Things+in+the+Age+of+AI%2C%26quot%3B&amp;index=2&amp;md5=874def2b87a7110e73555a53903d68ac" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">"Materialization — Making Things in the Age of AI,"</a> Kato wrote, "Over thirty years we made the world of bits more than a hundred times faster. The world of atoms moved at roughly the same speed in most industries. In the AI era, the gap widens further. Even if AI makes thinking ten thousand times faster and produces ten thousand times the theory, the upside from AI gets diluted in the physical world if it still takes four years to mass-produce cars. Solving physical limits means solving this asymmetry."Kato believes the key lies in transitioning manufacturing from sequential execution to parallel processing. In a world where processes that were once executed step-by-step now run simultaneously, a common platform that enables humans and AI across departments to draw on the same information and context becomes indispensable. However, manufacturing data contains highly complex semantics, relationships, and constraints that general-purpose AI cannot adequately address. Domain-specific vertical AI capable of mapping data semantics is essential.The funds raised will be allocated across four areas:<ul class=""><li class="">Proprietary AI and technology development</li><li class="">Expansion of the Manufacturing AI Data Platform</li><li class="">Enhancement of global business operations centered on North America</li><li class="">Investment in talent acquisition and development</li></ul>"AI only delivers where a data layer and a semantic layer already exist. In manufacturing that layer is buried in information fragmented across departments and in records that were never digitized at all, which is why horizontal tooling never reaches it," said Ken Hara, partner at Coreline Ventures. "CADDi has spent four years building it, with some of the most demanding manufacturers in the world as its first customers. Knowledge that lived only in individual experience is becoming an asset the organization, and in time the industry, can use.""Eighteen months ago, we backed CADDi because we believed they had the potential to build one of the defining AI companies in manufacturing. Since then, that conviction has only grown," said Luca Eisenstecken, Partner at Atomico. "CADDi is evolving from solving individual manufacturing workflows to building the intelligence layer for the entire manufacturing lifecycle. Its new AI-native data platform connects engineering, procurement, production and quality through a shared semantic data foundation, giving AI agents the context to reason across decades of fragmented manufacturing knowledge. The ambition is enormous, the execution has been exceptional and we're thrilled to deepen our partnership with Yushiro, Aki and the team for the decade ahead." <h2 class="">CADDi previews next-generation platform technology</h2>Kato emphasized, "As artificial intelligence pushes past the boundaries of intelligence, the gap between what is conceptualized and what is implemented in the physical world widens. We see this as a broader human challenge that goes well beyond manufacturing: 'physical limits.'"CADDi announced the next-generation Manufacturing AI Data Platform in Japan in August 2026 to serve as this foundational platform, initiating the global products release. "At our CADDi Unleash 2026 event, we presented a renewed vision: to overcome physical limits and accelerate physical innovation tenfold. That is our priority from here on, and this commitment is what guided both our recent product rebrand and the development of new products we are bringing to our U.S. customers," said Kato.Designed as a manufacturing operating system, <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcaddi.com%2Fen-us%2Fplatform%2F%3Fref%3DUS-PR-2026-Q4-CADDi-Series-D-Funding-NPI&amp;esheet=54605181&amp;newsitemid=20260916456307&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=CADDi&amp;index=3&amp;md5=12263102916e9c3d503c7dc29bf7aa25" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">CADDi</a> provides a semantic structure to fragmented data, enabling human and AI workflows to run on shared data without manual handoffs. The new product, CADDi Explorer, is a manufacturing discovery engine and the next-generation version of CADDi Drawer. CADDi Agent is a new AI agent that analyzes manufacturing data, makes decisions, and takes action within each company's operating context. CADDi will also offer six domain-specific Workflow Products spanning the manufacturing value chain, enhancing decision-making and execution to drive business-critical impact.The platform's official U.S. launch signals CADDi's full-scale expansion into the United States, the world's second-largest manufacturing market. <h2 class="">About CADDi</h2>CADDi is a global manufacturing technology company driven by the vision to accelerate physical innovation tenfold. Headquartered in Chicago and Tokyo, the company was founded in 2017 by industry veterans Yushiro Kato and Aki Kobashi, formerly of McKinsey and Apple, respectively. CADDi currently serves manufacturing businesses in more than 20 countries, including many of the largest publicly traded companies in Japan and the United States. Total funding stands at $234 million, valuing the company at $1.2 billion.CADDi's Manufacturing AI Data Platform analyzes, structures, contextualizes, and connects data that has historically been fragmented across the manufacturing value chain. With a proprietary AI model, CADDi offers domain-specific Workflow Products spanning the manufacturing value chain, enhancing decision-making and execution to drive business-critical impact. To learn more, visit <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcaddi.com%2Fen-us%2Fcompany%2F%3Fref%3DUS-PR-2026-Q4-CADDi-Series-D-Funding-NPI&amp;esheet=54605181&amp;newsitemid=20260916456307&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=caddi.com&amp;index=4&amp;md5=72a843845a17cc0cbae8d42660e45dfb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">caddi.com</a>. View digital copy of this release, including a full list of investor comments on CADDi's news page: <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fcaddi.com%2Fen-us%2Fnews%2Fannouncements%2Fcaddi-seriesd-unicorn-status%2F%3Fref%3DUS-PR-2026-Q4-CADDi-Series-D-Funding-NPI&amp;esheet=54605181&amp;newsitemid=20260916456307&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=caddi.com%2Fen-us%2Fnews&amp;index=5&amp;md5=fb61256329744c56b0f7041552b25cdb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">caddi.com/en-us/news</a>*HR Tech Fund LLC is a corporate venture capital entity under Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.**JPS Growth Investment Limited Partnership and JPS Growth II Investment Limited Partnership, managed by a subsidiary of Japan Post Bank Asset Management Co., Ltd.View source version on businesswire.com: <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260916456307/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260916456307/en/</a> <h3 class="">Contacts</h3><h4 class="">Media Contact</h4>Milbien MedinaSenior Manager, Brand Marketing at CADDi<a href="mailto:milbien_medina@caddi.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">milbien_medina@caddi.com</a>

<h5 class="">Originally featured in <a href="https://www.thesaasnews.com/news/caddi-raises-114m-series-d/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">The SaaS News</a></h5> CADDi Raises $114M Series D at $1.2B Valuation CADDi, a manufacturing AI startup with dual headquarters in Tokyo and Chicago, has raised $114 million in a Series D funding round, bringing the company to a $1.2 billion valuation. The latest capital infusion increases the company's total funding to $234 million. <h2 class="">Investors</h2>The funding round included eight new and existing investors. Participants include Moore Strategic Ventures, Coreline Ventures, Woven Capital, HR Tech Fund, Atomico, Globis Capital Partners, and JPS Growth funds. <h2 class="">CADDi Use of Funds</h2>CADDi plans to use the new funding to expand its product lineup, specifically by building AI models that can interpret manufacturing-specific data such as 3D CAD files and 2D drawings. The company also intends to use the capital to support its global expansion efforts, with a primary focus on the North American market, as well as to increase its headcount. <h2 class="">About CADDi</h2>Founded in 2017 by Yushiro Kato, CADDi provides an AI-powered data platform designed to help manufacturing companies organize and utilize engineering and production data. The company's platform integrates data from diverse systems, including CAD files and enterprise resource planning software, to assist manufacturers in standardizing parts, performing quality impact assessments, and capturing the institutional knowledge of experienced engineers. <h2 class="">Funding Details</h2>Company Website: <a href="https://corp.caddi.jp/?ref=thesaasnews.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 18px;" class="">https://corp.caddi.jp</a>Company: CADDiRaised: $114MRound: Series DFunding Date: September 2026Additional Investors: Moore Strategic Ventures, Coreline Ventures, Woven Capital, HR Tech Fund, Atomico, Globis Capital Partners, JPS Growth fundsCompany Website: <a href="https://corp.caddi.jp/?ref=thesaasnews.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 18px;" class="">https://corp.caddi.jp</a>Software Category: Manufacturing AISource: <a href="https://fortune.com/2026/09/15/caddi-manufacturing-startup-valuation-funding-round-series-d-exclusive/?ref=thesaasnews.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 18px;" class="">https://fortune.com/2026/09/15/caddi-manufacturing-startup-valuation-funding-round-series-d-exclusive/</a>

CADDi Raises $114M Series D

<h5 class="">Originally featured on <a href="https://www.citybiz.co/article/904290/caddi-raises-114-million-series-d-at-1-2-billion-valuation/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">citybiz.co</a></h5> Manufacturing companies generate large volumes of engineering, procurement, production and quality data, but much of that information remains fragmented across departments, legacy systems and undigitized records. <a href="https://caddi.com/en-us/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">CADDi</a> has raised $114 million in Series D funding to expand an AI data platform designed to connect that information and make it usable across manufacturing operations.The financing values Chicago- and Tokyo-based CADDi at $1.2 billion and brings its total funding to $234 million. Eight new and existing investors participated in the round.New investors include Moore Strategic Ventures, Coreline Ventures, HR Tech Fund, Woven Capital and Salesforce Ventures. Existing backers Atomico, Globis Capital Partners and JPS Growth Investment Limited Partnership also participated.CADDi plans to invest the capital in proprietary AI and technology development, expansion of its Manufacturing AI Data Platform, global business operations centered on North America, and hiring and employee development.Founded in 2017 by CEO Yushiro Kato and Aki Kobashi, CADDi initially focused on individual manufacturing workflows but is expanding toward a shared data and intelligence layer spanning the manufacturing lifecycle.The company’s platform analyzes, structures and connects information that would otherwise sit separately across engineering, sourcing, production and quality functions. CADDi’s approach is based on creating a semantic layer that preserves the relationships and context within manufacturing data so both employees and AI applications can work from the same underlying information.That addresses a practical limitation in applying general-purpose AI to industrial operations. Manufacturing records can include engineering drawings, specifications, procurement history, production information and quality data with technical relationships that are difficult to interpret without industry-specific context.“AI only delivers where a data layer and a semantic layer already exist,” Coreline Ventures partner Ken Hara said. He said CADDi has spent four years developing that foundation with manufacturing customers, turning information previously concentrated in individual experience into data that can be used more broadly across an organization.CADDi introduced its next-generation Manufacturing AI Data Platform in Japan in August 2026 and is now moving into a global product rollout, including a full-scale expansion in the United States.The platform includes CADDi Explorer, a manufacturing discovery engine that succeeds the company’s CADDi Drawer product. Explorer is designed to help users find and work with manufacturing information distributed across an organization.CADDi is also introducing CADDi Agent, an AI agent that can analyze manufacturing data, make decisions and take actions using the operating context of an individual company. Six domain-specific Workflow Products are planned across different parts of the manufacturing value chain.The broader objective is to reduce manual handoffs between functions by allowing workflows to operate against a common data foundation. CADDi sees that infrastructure as increasingly important as manufacturers explore AI agents capable of performing work rather than simply retrieving or summarizing information.Atomico partner Luca Eisenstecken said CADDi is moving from addressing individual workflows toward providing an intelligence layer across the manufacturing lifecycle. Atomico first invested in the company approximately 18 months ago and returned for the Series D.CADDi’s U.S. rollout represents a significant part of the expansion strategy supported by the new financing. The company currently serves manufacturers in more than 20 countries, including large publicly traded companies in Japan and the United States.Kato has framed the company’s longer-term challenge around narrowing the gap between faster digital processes and the comparatively slower physical processes required to manufacture products. His strategy calls for moving more manufacturing activities from sequential workflows toward processes that can operate in parallel, supported by shared data and context.CADDi’s $114 million Series D gives the company additional capital to pursue that strategy as manufacturers increase their use of AI across engineering and factory operations. Its expansion will center on building the data infrastructure, domain-specific software and AI agents needed to connect decisions across the manufacturing lifecycle while accelerating its commercial presence in North America.

CADDi Raises $114 Million Series D at $1.2 Billion Valuation

CADDi Raises $114 Million To Fix Manufacturing’s Biggest Bottleneck With AI

Originally featured on <a href="https://www.advancedmanufacturing.org/news-desk/press-releases/caddi-raises-funds-in-series-d-at-1-2-billion-valuation/article_23f67d13-00c6-40c0-a97d-6148f8182314.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">advancedmanufacturing.org</a> <a href="https://caddi.com/en-us/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">CADDi</a>, the global technology company that develops the CADDi Manufacturing AI Data Platform, today announced that it has entered into definitive agreements for $114 million at a $1.2 billion valuation in Series D funding, with eight new and existing investors participating, including Moore Strategic Ventures and Coreline Ventures. This funding brings CADDi's total funding to $234 million.Funding overview:<ul class=""><li class="">Series D Round Size: $114 million</li><li class="">New Investors: Moore Strategic Ventures, Coreline Ventures, HR Tech Fund LLC, Woven Capital, and Salesforce Ventures</li><li class="">Existing Investors: Atomico, Globis Capital Partners, JPS Growth Investment Limited Partnership</li></ul> <h2 class="">Fueling What’s Next for Manufacturing in the AI Era</h2>CADDi is headquartered in Chicago and Tokyo, and is led by Yushiro Kato, co-founder and CEO. In an essay recently published on CADDi's corporate website, titled "<a href="https://caddi.com/en-us/essay/2609/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">Materialization — Making Things in the Age of AI</a>," Kato wrote, "Over thirty years we made the world of bits more than a hundred times faster. The world of atoms moved at roughly the same speed in most industries. In the AI era, the gap widens further. Even if AI makes thinking ten thousand times faster and produces ten thousand times the theory, the upside from AI gets diluted in the physical world if it still takes four years to mass-produce cars. Solving physical limits means solving this asymmetry." Kato believes the key lies in transitioning manufacturing from sequential execution to parallel processing. In a world where processes that were once executed step-by-step now run simultaneously, a common platform that enables humans and AI across departments to draw on the same information and context becomes indispensable. However, manufacturing data contains highly complex semantics, relationships, and constraints that general-purpose AI cannot adequately address. Domain-specific vertical AI capable of mapping data semantics is essential.The funds raised will be allocated across four areas:<ul class=""><li class="">Proprietary AI and technology development</li><li class="">Expansion of the Manufacturing AI Data Platform</li><li class="">Enhancement of global business operations centered on North America</li><li class="">Investment in talent acquisition and development</li></ul>"AI only delivers where a data layer and a semantic layer already exist. In manufacturing that layer is buried in information fragmented across departments and in records that were never digitized at all, which is why horizontal tooling never reaches it,” said Ken Hara, partner at Coreline Ventures. “CADDi has spent four years building it, with some of the most demanding manufacturers in the world as its first customers. Knowledge that lived only in individual experience is becoming an asset the organization, and in time the industry, can use.”“Eighteen months ago, we backed CADDi because we believed they had the potential to build one of the defining AI companies in manufacturing. Since then, that conviction has only grown,” said Luca Eisenstecken, Partner at Atomico. “CADDi is evolving from solving individual manufacturing workflows to building the intelligence layer for the entire manufacturing lifecycle. Its new AI-native data platform connects engineering, procurement, production and quality through a shared semantic data foundation, giving AI agents the context to reason across decades of fragmented manufacturing knowledge. The ambition is enormous, the execution has been exceptional and we’re thrilled to deepen our partnership with Yushiro, Aki and the team for the decade ahead.” <h2 class="">CADDi Previews Next-generation Platform Technology</h2>Kato emphasized, “As artificial intelligence pushes past the boundaries of intelligence, the gap between what is conceptualized and what is implemented in the physical world widens. We see this as a broader human challenge that goes well beyond manufacturing: ‘physical limits.’" CADDi announced the next-generation Manufacturing AI Data Platform in Japan in August 2026 to serve as this foundational platform, initiating the global products release.“At our CADDi Unleash 2026 event, we presented a renewed vision: to overcome physical limits and accelerate physical innovation tenfold. That is our priority from here on, and this commitment is what guided both our recent product rebrand and the development of new products we are bringing to our U.S. customers,” said Kato.Designed as a manufacturing operating system, <a href="https://caddi.com/en-us/platform/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">CADDi</a> provides a semantic structure to fragmented data, enabling human and AI workflows to run on shared data without manual handoffs. The new product, CADDi Explorer, is a manufacturing discovery engine and the next-generation version of CADDi Drawer.CADDi Agent is a new AI agent that analyzes manufacturing data, makes decisions, and takes action within each company's operating context. CADDi will also offer six domain-specific Workflow Products spanning the manufacturing value chain, enhancing decision-making and execution to drive business-critical impact.The platform's official U.S. launch signals CADDi's full-scale expansion into the United States, the world's second-largest manufacturing market.

CADDi Raises Funds in Series D at $1.2 Billion Valuation

<h5 class="">Originally featured on <a href="https://www.siliconreport.com/caddi-raises-114-million-at-1-2-billion-valuation" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="">siliconreport.com</a></h5> Tokyo- and Chicago-based CADDi has raised $114 million in a Series D funding round that values the manufacturing software startup at $1.2 billion, Fortune reported.The valuation is more than double the $470 million CADDi reported in March 2025 and lifts total capital raised to $234 million. Eight new and existing investors joined the round, including Moore Strategic Ventures, Coreline Ventures, Toyota’s Woven Capital, Atomico, and Globis Capital Partners. <h2 class="">Domain models and expansion</h2>CADDi began by using machine learning to identify duplicate parts and defect rates from technical drawings. The company has since expanded into an engineering data platform that structures CAD files, enterprise resource planning data, and human resources records for automated workflows.The startup relies on proprietary models for drawings and general large language models for text and spreadsheets. “I’ve never seen anybody who uses LLMs to do design reviews because it doesn’t understand drawings or CAD,” cofounder and chief executive Yushiro Kato said.Kato said the capital will fund North American expansion, model development, and hiring across technical teams. The company has grown to roughly 900 employees, deploying forward engineers and more than 100 customer success specialists to assist industrial clients with change management. Why it matters: CADDi will use the new financing to expand specialized engineering models and deployment teams, helping industrial customers lower direct material costs and compress development cycles against overseas rivals.

CADDi raises $114 million at $1.2 billion valuation

CADDi raises $114M at $1.2B valuation for automated manufacturing

<h5 class="">Originally featured on <a href="https://fortune.com/2026/09/15/caddi-manufacturing-startup-valuation-funding-round-series-d-exclusive/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size: 16px;" class="">fortune.com</a></h5> CADDi, a startup that sells AI software to help manufacturers organize and use their engineering and production data, has raised $114 million in a new funding round that values the company at $1.2 billion.Eight new and existing investors took part in the investment, which is the company’s Series D funding round, the Tokyo- and Chicago-based company said.Among them are Moore Strategic Ventures, Coreline Ventures, Toyota’s growth-stage fund Woven Capital, and HR Tech Fund, the corporate venture arm of Japan’s Recruit Holdings. One new investor was not identified. Existing backers Atomico, Globis Capital Partners, and the JPS Growth funds, managed by a Japan Post Bank subsidiary, also took part in the funding.The valuation is more than double the $470 million CADDi reported in March 2025. The new round brings CADDi’s total funding to $234 million, the company said.Founded in 2017, CADDi’s initial product, called CADDi Drawer, was designed to address a common problem in manufacturing firms: they buy too many similar parts from different suppliers. The AI-powered product ingested technical drawings and then searched a customer’s own databases for similar or identical parts the customer had previously purchased or already has in inventory. The software also provided information on the defect rate of those parts, allowing the customer to decide if they wished to use existing stock, repurchase the item from an existing supplier, or try a new supplier.In the past two years, the company has broadened its product suite, creating what it calls an “AI data platform for manufacturing.” The platform can integrate different data types from across multiple systems that customers use—from CAD files to enterprise resource planning software to HR systems—and structure it for use by 9/15/26, both people and AI agents. CADDi Drawer has been renamed CADDi Explorer and is now joined by CADDi Agent, an AI agent designed to help manufacturing companies make decisions about standardizing parts and perform quality impact assessments, which analyze how a given design change will impact performance and safety.CADDi has also launched six “workflow” products aimed at specific tasks, designed in part to capture the tacit knowledge of experienced engineers and workers. For instance, CADDi Design Review flags potential errors in new drawings and CAD models based on past problems with similar parts.Yushiro Kato, CADDi’s cofounder and CEO, tells Fortune that CADDi uses its own proprietary AI model to analyze product data like drawings and CAD files, and general-purpose large language models for documents and spreadsheets. “I’ve never seen anybody who uses LLMs to do design reviews because it doesn’t understand drawings or CAD,” he said.More than 80% of the knowledge about manufacturing work processes, and often why a company chose a particular supplier or designed a part in a particular way, is never recorded anywhere, Kato said. Instead, it exists in the heads of experienced employees. CADDi’s AI platform is designed to capture and codify that knowledge.Kato declined to disclose revenue or customer numbers, but said sales are more than doubling year over year and that the company now has customers in 22 countries, although the U.S. is a core focus. In Japan, he said, more than half of the country’s 100 largest manufacturers use CADDi. Meanwhile, CADDi’s headcount has grown to about 900 staffers, up from 600 in early 2025.He said the money from CADDi’s latest fundraise will go toward expanding its product lineup, building AI models that understand manufacturing-specific data such as 3D CAD files and 2D drawings, global expansion centered on North America, and hiring.CADDi tends to market its products based on measurable returns to its customers, such as lower direct material costs or shorter engineering lead times—critical, he said, for automakers and other manufacturing firms competing with Chinese rivals.The biggest obstacle to adoption, Kato said, is change management. Getting workers to alter how they have traditionally done things takes hands-on help, which is why CADDi employs more than 100 customer success staff, outnumbering its salespeople. Like many AI companies, it’s started hiring “forward deployed engineers” to help customers use AI effectively. “The goal is to change the organization and create a business impact,” Kato said.Kato frames CADDi’s ambitions around what he calls “the physical bottleneck.” AI capabilities are compounding, he said, yet little in the physical world has changed since ChatGPT debuted. Today, AI can build a e-commerce marketplace website in hours. Developing a new car, by contrast, still takes about four years from planning to delivery. “Even if AI makes thinking ten thousand times faster and produces ten thousand times the theory, the upside from AI gets diluted in the physical world if it still takes four years to mass-produce cars,” Kato wrote in a recent essay on CADDi’s website.CADDi’s stated goal is to accelerate physical innovation tenfold by 2035—which, for a car, would mean four to five months from planning to delivery. Automakers typically go through about 20 design review cycles for a single product, Kato said, often because problems surface only at the prototype stage. CADDi wants to run more of those steps in parallel and catch problems earlier by pooling the know-how of veteran engineers into what Kato described as a kind of “superhuman” veteran.

Exclusive: Manufacturing AI startup CADDi valued at $1.2 billion following $114 million Series D funding round

CADDi leverages AI to digitize drawings and procurement data, making manufacturing insights searchable by shape, text, dimensions and part names.

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VOICES: Jeremy Holt, Strategic Advisor at CADDi - Design World

AI manufacturing startup Caddi hits $1.2B valuation with $114M funding round

CADDi Raises $114 Million Series D At $1.2 Billion Valuation

CADDi Raises $114 Million in Series D at $1.2 Billion Valuation

CADDi Raises $114 Million in Series D at $1.2 Billion Valuation

CADDi Raises $114M Series D

CADDi Raises $114 Million Series D at $1.2 Billion Valuation

CADDi Raises $114 Million To Fix Manufacturing’s Biggest Bottleneck With AI

CADDi Raises Funds in Series D at $1.2 Billion Valuation

CADDi raises $114 million at $1.2 billion valuation

CADDi raises $114M at $1.2B valuation for automated manufacturing

Exclusive: Manufacturing AI startup CADDi valued at $1.2 billion following $114 million Series D funding round