CoLab Software Inc., a creator of artificial intelligence tools designed to help automate engineering tasks, said today it has closed on $72 million in Series C funding.

The startup has created a platform called EngineeringOS, which is a kind of operating system for engineers that helps to coordinate design reviews, analyze engineering data and collaborate with suppliers. The platform is used by an impressive number of manufacturing giants, including Ford Motor Co., GE Appliances, Lockheed Martin Corp., Schneider Electric SE and others to refine their engineering designs at scale and accelerate the time it takes to go from rough drafts to final specifications.

CoLab says that engineering involves making lots of decisions, with designers forced to make complex tradeoffs in terms of cost, performance, manufacturability and safety. Generative AI can help to speed up the design process and run simulations to test those ideas, but the actual decisions are still made by human experts, as they require precise knowledge. This is where CoLab wants to make a difference, automating the “expert intuition” of professional engineers with AI agents.

The company thinks it has the data to do this. Its platform has been around for eight years, and during that time its users have used its software to create millions of engineering drawings, 3D models and other design files, along with even more annotations

This accumulated data serves as an extremely rich knowledge base, providing tons of context on the reasons behind what engineering decisions were taken, and why things were designed a certain way. In other words, it’s perfect for training AI agents to understand the design review process, make logical decisions and spot flaws in designs.

Co-founder and Chief Executive Adam Keating explained that thousands of decisions go into every feat of engineering, but the most critical choices are made far too slowly. “[They happen] in 20-person meetings, often weeks apart,” he said. “CoLab is changing that. We envision a world where skilled engineers collaborate with AI agents that can access their entire company’s collective knowledge, collapsing design cycles from months to hours.”

CoLab isn’t automating engineering just for the sake of acceleration. It also cites a growing knowledge gap, with thousands of senior engineers in the U.S. and Europe approaching retirement, and not enough graduates coming through to replace them.

The company recently launched its first AI agent in the shape of AutoReview. Since debuting in June, more than 47,000 engineers have signed onto its waitlist. AutoReview is said to be able to analyze 3D models and drawings, add markups and comments on the designs, identify any critical structural issues or problems and suggest ways to improve and optimize them. AutoReview’s popularity is one of the reasons why CoLab is on track to almost triple its revenue in fiscal 2025, with early adopters likening it to having an “experienced mentor” working alongside them.

Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Jeremy Andrews said AutoReview is just the first in a series of planned “engineering agents” it has in the pipeline. Ultimately, the company wants to create agents that can assist in every step of the design process, trained on institutional knowledge that’s locked in the heads of veteran engineers. To do this, it needs to access even more of that knowledge, but Andrews is confident the company can get it.

“What we’ve learned is capturing that knowledge is a user-experience problem,” he said. “Engineers will only share what they know if the process feels natural and valuable, and that’s the breakthrough we have made. Without that, expert design knowledge stays locked in people’s heads.”

The round was led by Intrepid Growth Partners and saw participation from existing backers including Insight Partners, Y Combinator, Pelorus VC, Killick Capital and Spider Capital.

Insight Partners Managing Director Josh Fredberg sees the capture of this engineering knowledge as a matter of great urgency, and said that’s why he’s investing in the company. “North America and Europe have led the way in advanced design and manufacturing for decades, but the rest of the world is catching up,” he said. “We risk losing even more ground if we don’t capture and scale our engineering knowledge now. CoLab has figured out how to that in a way that few software companies have.”

Besides funding the development of more agents, CoLab is also looking at deeper product integrations with third-party engineering and AI tools. It also wants to expand its commercial partnerships and hire additional staff.

Images: CoLab