Nominal, an Austin-based company that sells an AI platform for engineering and testing complex hardware, said Monday it raised $240 million in a Series C round that values the four-year-old startup at $3 billion. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, with Insight Partners co-leading. The new valuation is triple the $1 billion mark Nominal reached earlier this year.
The March round that set that earlier figure was a $155 million Series B extension led by Trae Stephens of Founders Fund. It was a preemptive deal, meaning the investor made the offer rather than the startup soliciting it. Nominal's other backers include Sequoia, General Catalyst and Lux Capital. The company's platform is aimed at hardware programs such as aircraft, nuclear reactors and smart factories.
Nominal said it counts 80 commercial and government organizations as customers. Among them is Anduril, the defense company co-founded by Stephens. In October, the Air Force picked Nominal for a $71.2 million Strategic Funding Increase investment, known as STRATFI, a program that requires matching funds from sources outside the Air Force.
Cameron McCord, Nominal's CEO and co-founder, is a former U.S. Navy submarine officer and an Anduril alum. The customer roster and the Air Force award give the company a foothold in both the commercial and defense hardware markets in the United States.
The funding arrives eight months after the company's previous valuation announcement. Nominal's tools are used to test complex hardware, a category that spans aerospace, energy and manufacturing.
The Series C brings total capital disclosed in Nominal's recent rounds to $395 million, counting the March extension and the new financing. The company did not disclose additional terms of the latest round.
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