Founders Fund leads financing of composites startup Layup Parts
Summary
Scarcely five months after its founding, hard tech startup Layup Parts has landed a $9 million round of financing led by Founders Fund to transform composites manufacturing. But Layup was likely able to close a large funding round so quickly at least in part because the founders themselves have deep experience with the issues that plague domestic manufacturing.Layup was founded by Zack Eakin, Hanno Kappen and Elisa Suarez; the trio met while working at The Boring Company, Elon Musks idiosyncratic effort to transform transportation using tunnels. Kappen went on to work at robotic pizzeria Stellar Pizza while Suarez had stints at Rivian and renewable energy company Heliogen.Eakin, Layups CEO, moved to Anduril in 2021 as director of mechanical engineering. I think we can be 10 times faster, and on the tooling and upfront costs, we can be half the cost of what you would typically pay today, Eakin estimated.In general, Eakin did not seem too concerned with the competition; many of the top composites companies are owned by PE firms, and those firms tend to focus on landing larger long-term contracts rather than faster-turnaround development programs, he said.I believe that the long-term, high-value contracts of tomorrow are in development today, he said. But that doesnt mean the company isnt moving fast: With the new funding, Layup aims to have a factory online making parts for customers by the end of the third quarter of this year.That means the $9 million will primarily go to capital expenditures like a bigger building and more equipment, as well as hiring on both the software side and for factory floor technicians.Theres been a lot of talk often frantic from Silicon Valley about the many woes facing the U.S. industrial base, including an aging workforce and an over-reliance on tribal knowledge.