CADDi Inc., a startup that provides specialized procurement software for industrial equipment makers, has raised $89 million in new funding.

TechCrunch reported the Series C round today. The raise included the participation of nearly a dozen investors, including the venture capital arm of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s largest bank. 

Tokyo-based CADDi is now reportedly worth more than the valuation it received following its previous funding round in 2021. That raise, a $73 million Series B round, is said to have valued the startup at $450 million. Across all its funding rounds, CADDi has raised about $164 million from investors.

Companies such as industrial equipment makers often incorporate custom-designed parts into their hardware. CADDi sells a software platform, CADDi Manufacturing, that connects companies with suppliers capable of producing their custom-designed parts. The startup says its platform is used by more than 1,500 customers including 70% of the 20 largest industrial equipment makers in Japan.

To use CADDi Manufacturing, a company must first upload the blueprint for the custom part it wishes to make. The software analyzes the blueprint and automatically extracts information on the materials necessary to build the part, as well as the production methods that will be used. CADDi Manufacturing then generates a cost estimate based on the extracted details.

Once the software assembles all the necessary data, CADDi finds suppliers that can manufacture the part. The company then orchestrates the production process on the customer’s behalf. After manufacturing, parts are not sent directly to a customer but rather to CADDi-operated quality assurance facilities where they’re checked for potential issues.

The company says its platform can reduce manufacturing costs by as much as 20%. Furthermore, CADDi is says parts procured through its software are delivered without any malfunctions or shipping delays in more than 99.8% of cases.

CADDi sells the platform alongside a second application called CADDi Drawer that it launched last year. It’s a kind of Google Drive for component schematics.

Because of their complexity, component blueprint files are difficult to index for search software. That means engineers often can’t browse such files using a standard search bar. Instead, they must manually sift through their company’s blueprint archive when a certain schematic is needed for a project.

CADDi Drawer eases the task. According to the company, it uses artificial intelligence to index a company’s blueprint archive. Engineers can search for blueprints based on part number and file name, as well as more technical criteria such as the shape of a certain equipment component.

One task CADDi Drawer can ease is the process of negotiating manufacturing prices with a supplier. When a company wishes to order a certain component, it may use CADDi Drawer to find the blueprints of similar parts it ordered in the past. It can then check the cost of those parts to inform its price negotiations with suppliers.

According to TechCrunch, CADDi will use the proceeds from its latest funding round to extend the features of its two software products. The startup also intends to hire more employees in the U.S.

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