San Francisco-based startup Rescale, which develops engineering software for designing race cars and computer chips, has raised $115 million in a recent round of venture financing. The investment was led by the venture arm of semiconductor equipment manufacturer Applied Materials and Nvidia, a prominent player in artificial intelligence chip manufacturing.
Rescale’s software enables engineers to simulate intricate physical systems during the design phase, such as predicting airflow around different race car designs before creating a physical prototype. CEO Joris Poort stated that the newly acquired funds will be utilized to harness artificial intelligence to expedite this simulation process.
Each comprehensive simulation demands substantial computing power and typically takes approximately three days to complete. Rescale is working on technology that leverages the data from these simulations to train AI models. While these AI models may not match the accuracy of full-scale simulations, they offer a close approximation at significantly faster speeds. Engineers can utilize AI models to explore numerous design possibilities quickly and then validate the results using more time-consuming full-scale simulations.
“This AI model can provide predictions within 98% accuracy on metrics like drag coefficient in less than a second. It’s a tool to aid in decision-making,” explained Poort.
The recent funding round brings Rescale’s total investments to over $260 million. Notable investors in this round include Atika Capital, Foxconn, Hanwha, Hitachi Ventures, NEC Orchestrating Future Fund, Prosperity7, SineWave Ventures, Translink Capital, University of Michigan, and Y Combinator. Previous investors in Rescale include Sam Altman from OpenAI, Jeff Bezos from Amazon, Peter Thiel from PayPal, and Microsoft.
