PALO ALTO — Instrumental Inc., a developer of manufacturing optimization software, has closed $50 million in Series C financing, led by BAM Elevate, with Canaan, Root Ventures and Eclipse Ventures as return investors. Instrumental Inc. will use the funds to expand research and development for new products and make critical hires in engineering and go-to-market teams.
Instrumental builds core manufacturing data infrastructure for top electronics brands — including Axon, Bose, Cisco Meraki, Honeywell, and SolarEdge — which helps customers solve crucial issues in their manufacturing operations. Bain & Company estimates that 20 cents of every dollar spent in the manufacturing industry is wasted, which adds up to $8 trillion of economic waste. Instrumental Inc.’s cloud platform serves as the AI-enabled backbone for companies optimizing their manufacturing processes, through automated technology that detects defects, identifies root causes and delivers actionable insights to global teams. This data infrastructure enables companies to dramatically reduce waste and increase product margins as they bring products to market.
“When I was working as an engineer, I was surprised by the amount of waste and inefficiencies that electronics brands are accustomed to as the cost of doing business,” said Anna-Katrina Shedletsky, Instrumental Inc. CEO and founder. “We believe in a different future — where software leverages data about every individual unit built to make rapid changes to process and design, eliminating waste. We are proud to be part of our customers’ core manufacturing infrastructure and to be approaching this challenge with deep empathy for the engineers who build and improve the products we all enjoy every day.”
This round of funding comes on the heels of a record year for Instrumental Inc., which saw tripled bookings and net revenue retention of 150 percent in 2021. The company also earned recognition on Inc. Magazine’s 2021 Top 5000 List of Fastest-Growing Companies, and in July 2020 closed a Series B round of funding, bringing the total funds raised to over $80 million.
“The way Instrumental combines visual and product data for companies optimizing their manufacturing processes completely changes the way products are designed and produced,” said Jamie McGurk, the General Partner who led BAM Elevate’s investment, who has joined Instrumental’s Board of Directors. “Engineers that once had to email Excel files around the world and waste valuable time extracting information from siloed data centers can now use Instrumental to deliver the insights they need to find and fix issues faster than ever. We’re thrilled to fuel Instrumental’s continued growth.”
“I felt that Instrumental got what we were doing and why our mission to protect life is so important to us,” said Bill Maginn, Director of NPI Engineering at Axon. “Throughout the process, they actively helped us solve immediate problems and they’re committed to evolving their platform to further support our needs. We had a great two-way synergy with the Instrumental team and that’s why we’re getting ready to use Instrumental again on a new public safety product.”
