Nominal Raises $75 Million, led by Sequoia Capital, to Modernize Hardware Testing

Trusted by the U.S. Air Force, Anduril, and Shield AI, Nominal gives engineering teams one secure platform to validate, automate, and ship critical hardware, faster.

LOS ANGELES, June 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Nominal, the first unified, real-time test stack for physical systems, today announced a $75 million Series B led by Sequoia Capital, with significant participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and continued support from Lux Capital, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, and additional investors. Programs across aerospace, defense, energy and advanced manufacturing—including Anduril Industries, Shield AI, and the U.S. Air Force—use Nominal to analyze hardware data, surface anomalies, and keep critical hardware mission-ready.

"No one tests more hardware, or under higher stakes, than the U.S. Department of Defense. Nominal is already accelerating test outcomes and can help reduce the time required for flight and weapons testing—delivering credible capabilities to the warfighter faster" said Maj Gen (Ret) Evan Dertien, former commander of the U.S. Air Force Test Center.

Nominal's unified stack automates data capture, flags edge-case failures, and feeds results straight into operations—whether in a wind tunnel, on a flight line, or inside a contested environment. In just two years the company has become the fastest-growing software platform in hardware development:

• 10× revenue growth year-over-year
• 6× customer growth across aerospace, defense, energy, robotics, and manufacturing
• Dozens of operational field deployments, from hypersonic materials testing to daily drone sorties

For decades hardware testing innovation has lagged behind the speed of demand for new hardware products. Incumbent tools—built for one-and-done verification in the 1980s-2000s—assumed products shipped every ten years, not every ten weeks. Spreadsheets, custom Python harnesses and siloed software can't keep pace with rapid design changes or field updates. As reindustrialization, rising defense budgets, and global competition compress schedules, continuous real-time validation is now essential for national security and industrial prosperity.

"Test speed is the choke-point for hardware innovation," said Alfred Lin, Partner at Sequoia Capital. "Nominal transforms testing from a constraint into a competitive advantage with an integrated platform that spans development through operations. We're excited to partner with the Nominal team as they create and define this new software category that will power the next era of hardware."

Founded in 2022 by engineers and operators from Anduril, Lockheed Martin, and Palantir, Nominal replaces fragmented scripts and desktop tools with a single secure stack spanning telemetry management, hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) automation, and live operational monitoring. By cutting test-to-decision time from days to minutes, Nominal lets hardware engineering organizations accelerate product development timelines, reduce overhead, and scale outcomes — without adding headcount.

Today the Nominal platform offers two production products:

• Nominal Core—a secure cloud workbench for managing, monitoring and analyzing high-rate sensor data, logs, video, and procedures in one time-aligned, collaborative view.
• Nominal Connect—an edge platform that lets engineers build custom hardware-in-the-loop applications and run automation code connected to physical assets or test stands.

"We are in the business of making testing simpler, more efficient and cost effective for our customers," said Cameron McCord, Nominal co-founder and CEO. "Every hour our customers wait for a test results impacts their schedule and budget. Nominal pulls the sensor data, control logic, and pass-fail gates into one live workspace, so testing outcomes are available within minutes, not days. Lines keep moving, flight windows stay on the calendar, and engineering teams ship new hardware without adding headcount."

Core and Connect are already used across dozens of programs to compress test loops from prototype to production to operations. Series B capital will accelerate both product roadmaps and fund new product offerings that push deeper into embedded and operational use cases — with secure, reliable AI woven throughout.

About Nominal

Nominal builds the unified, real-time test stack for the physical world. The platform lets engineering teams capture telemetry, automate hardware-in-the-loop tests, and monitor live systems in one secure environment. Trusted by organizations and programs across defense, aerospace, energy and heavy industry, Nominal shortens every loop from prototype to production to operations (and back). Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company has offices in Austin and New York City.

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SOURCE Nominal