First Resonance Raises Fresh Round of Funding to Meet Growing Demand for Factory Operating System
First Resonance, a Los Angeles-based start-up transforming manufacturing with a new Factory Operating System used by cutting-edge hardware companies, today announced a new round of funding led by Blue Bear Capital, which brings funds raised to date to more than $5 million. The new capital will be used to expand the First Resonance team to support the continued development of its unique approach to manufacturing, informed by the team’s background at SpaceX, NASA, Zoox, Toyota, and more.
Manufacturing Software Platform for Team Collaboration
First Resonance’s growing list of customers which includes Phase Four, Joby Aviation, and Iron Ox is not only inventing new types of products but also new ways to build them. The First Resonance Factory Operating System, ion, takes a fresh perspective on manufacturing. ion eliminates many of the needless and outdated structures for managing workflows, replacing them with flexible, connected, and data-driven workflows that this new generation of manufacturers taking on big challenges like climate change, congestion, and sustainability need to be successful.
“At the global level, the revolution of next-gen manufacturing is critical to solving the climate and mobility challenges that we’ll be facing in the years ahead. First Resonance software ignites that revolution by enabling the manufacturing workflows required to electrify transport, reach orbit, and propel satellites. At the local level, Blue Bear couldn’t be more thrilled to invest in and support another ground-breaking Los Angeles company, alongside some of the sharpest investors in the city,” said Vaughn Blake, Partner, Blue Bear Capital.
Based in LA, the First Resonance team is made up of former engineers from SpaceX, JPL, Zoox, Toyota, and other leading aerospace and automotive manufacturers. After experiencing bottlenecks building modern hardware products using standard manufacturing processes, the team set out to build a manufacturing platform to help engineers move quickly, collaborate with their teams efficiently, and make decisions automatically. Today’s factories have evolved from a mechanical, robotic, mundane workflow into an experiment factory where companies need to test new R&D alongside production workflows. Using First Resonance’s ion manufacturing platform, engineers can track information at a granular level to find answers quickly in a complex and dynamic manufacturing environment. ion improves time-to-experiment, giving modern hardware companies the information leverage they need to quickly iterate and take on big challenges. ion is addressing the needs of the manufacturing execution system market which is anticipated to grow to $14.9B by 2025. This figure is being rapidly accelerated given the massive shift in supply chains and manufacturing landscape brought on by COVID-19, shifting supply chains, and a constantly shifting geopolitical landscape.
“First Resonance acquired over a dozen customers in 2020 as manufacturers looked for solutions to stay connected to their factories while working remotely and to get game-changing innovations to market faster and cost effectively,” said Karan Talati, co-founder and CEO, First Resonance. “This new funding will allow us to expand our team with people who are passionate about building the foundation for how manufacturers will take on huge challenges like electric-powered air travel, autonomous vehicles, sustainable agriculture, clean energy and more.”
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