Fabri is a startup that wants to create a “digital foundry,” and just raised some funds to help it reach this goal. There are far too few foundries in America. These legacy businesses are closing or find it difficult to recapitalize after founders retire. Money is elsewhere, chasing bytes not bits, and foundries are an ancient business. Even if firms invest in manufacturing, then CNC, precision manufacturing, or 3D printing will be at the forefront of their plans. Foundries are old world, a part of an America that made things. Now, with most products being made outside of the US, this is a decided problem for the defense industry in particular. Fabri is therefore part of a new cohort of firms that want to reinvent foundries.
As far as I know, Skuld was the pioneer, reinventing foundry technology years ago. With a renewed focus on defense, independence, and a US military gap, many more firms are following it now. The US needs to build more submarines to shore up its nuclear triad, it needs to replenish its depleted (by half to two-thirds) precision missile arsenal, and will need to build many more autonomous vehicles in the future. This is a significant opportunity for additive, but also Fabri and firms like it. What Fabri wants to do is use the latest computational tools to advance foundries through automation. By reducing labor as a component of investment casting and speeding up lead times, the firm hopes to grow by shipping parts faster.
Fabri is 3D printing wax molds to skip a few steps in the investment casting process. Furthermore, they hope to automate many steps and use data and software to optimize production. For now, the company is working in Aluminum, copper, bronze, C71500, and steels, and wants to expand into nickel (IN713C, Mar-M247). Casting sizes are limited to 7 x 13 x 15.75 inches. The company is ITAR registered and has the CMMC Level 2 cybersecurity validation, as well as JCP Enhanced Validation, which also looks into compliance and security.
In some cases, foundry lead times can exceed two years, so this is a real opportunity with real money behind it. Fabri will now have real money as well. The firm has raised $13.5 million from the likes of Lavrock Ventures, Balerion Space Ventures, RTX Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Marlinspike, Tenon Ventures, and SBXi. The latter is a club comprised of Accel, Polaris Partners, GETTYLAB, General Catalyst, Pillar, Danaher, Underscore VC, and Glasswing Ventures, all working together to back MIT founders. Balerion is a space VC that has stakes in Anduril, Vast, and Relativity. So their money means a lot, given their exposure to firms that need to build stuff. Marlinspike, which has the coolest name of any VC, invests in AI, robotics, aerospace, and cybersecurity, and is also in Anduril. So having Anduril as a prospective client should not be too much of a problem. And having both Lockheed and RTX on this is just awesome for Fabri. Fabri also received $5 million in 2024,
Fabri is a startup that wants to create a “digital foundry,” and just raised some funds to help it reach this goal. There are far too few foundries in America. These legacy businesses are closing or find it difficult to recapitalize after founders retire. Money is elsewhere, chasing bytes not bits, and foundries are an ancient business. Even if firms invest in manufacturing, then CNC, precision manufacturing, or 3D printing will be at the forefront of their plans. Foundries are old world, a part of an America that made things. Now, with most products being made outside of the US, this is a decided problem for the defense industry in particular. Fabri is therefore part of a new cohort of firms that want to reinvent foundries.
As far as I know, Skuld was the pioneer, reinventing foundry technology years ago. With a renewed focus on defense, independence, and a US military gap, many more firms are following it now. The US needs to build more submarines to shore up its nuclear triad, it needs to replenish its depleted (by half to two-thirds) precision missile arsenal, and will need to build many more autonomous vehicles in the future. This is a significant opportunity for additive, but also Fabri and firms like it. What Fabri wants to do is use the latest computational tools to advance foundries through automation. By reducing labor as a component of investment casting and speeding up lead times, the firm hopes to grow by shipping parts faster.
Fabri is 3D printing wax molds to skip a few steps in the investment casting process. Furthermore, they hope to automate many steps and use data and software to optimize production. For now, the company is working in Aluminum, copper, bronze, C71500, and steels, and wants to expand into nickel (IN713C, Mar-M247). Casting sizes are limited to 7 x 13 x 15.75 inches. The company is ITAR registered and has the CMMC Level 2 cybersecurity validation, as well as JCP Enhanced Validation, which also looks into compliance and security.
In some cases, foundry lead times can exceed two years, so this is a real opportunity with real money behind it. Fabri will now have real money as well. The firm has raised $13.5 million from the likes of Lavrock Ventures, Balerion Space Ventures, RTX Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Marlinspike, Tenon Ventures, and SBXi. The latter is a club comprised of Accel, Polaris Partners, GETTYLAB, General Catalyst, Pillar, Danaher, Underscore VC, and Glasswing Ventures, all working together to back MIT founders. Balerion is a space VC that has stakes in Anduril, Vast, and Relativity. So their money means a lot, given their exposure to firms that need to build stuff. Marlinspike, which has the coolest name of any VC, invests in AI, robotics, aerospace, and cybersecurity, and is also in Anduril. So having Anduril as a prospective client should not be too much of a problem. And having both Lockheed and RTX on this is just awesome for Fabri. Fabri also received $5 million in 2024,