Layup Parts, a US-based composite materials manufacturing startup, announced the completion of a $42 million Series A funding round. The company aims to standardize and accelerate the procurement process for custom carbon fiber and glass fiber components, thereby reducing the time from design data submission to manufacturing delivery.

The funding round was led by Marlinspike.

This funding round was led by dual-purpose investment firm Marlinspike, with participation from Cerberus Ventures and Pinegrove Venture Partners, and continued investment from existing shareholders Founders Fund and LUX Capital. Two years ago, the company also completed a $9 million seed funding round.

Layup Parts currently has about 60 employees. Founder Zack Eakin stated that the new funding will primarily be used to expand the team and move into a larger facility this year. Compared to the seed round, which focused more on equipment spending, this round will prioritize personnel and capacity expansion.

The goal is to reduce the delivery time of custom parts.

Layup Parts' approach is to make the process of procuring custom composite parts more akin to online purchasing of standard industrial parts. The company aims to further simplify the ordering process by reducing manual communication and redundant confirmations through software tools.

Eakin believes that while industrial processes such as metal cutting and prototyping have accelerated significantly in recent years, composite material manufacturing remains fragmented with low levels of automation and software integration. The more complex processes involved in composite materials, requiring greater human intervention, have also resulted in a long-standing lack of efficient, standardized delivery systems within the industry.

According to him, Layup Parts has reduced the time from receiving customer data to completing production for some orders from weeks to hours. The company's current clients include racing teams, show car design studios, and Peak ball racket manufacturers.

Stronger demand in aerospace and defense

In terms of business structure, aerospace and defense have become the company's primary customer base, encompassing both startups and traditional defense contractors. This explains the presence of several institutions closely related to defense technology and manufacturing among the investors in this round.

Founder Zack Eakin previously worked in carbon fiber structure development in the racing industry. He joined Elon Musk's The Boring Company in 2017 and the defense technology company Anduril in 2021. He stated that it was during his time at Anduril that he became more acutely aware of the inefficiencies in the composite materials supply chain, which led him to decide to start his own business.