Quilter
Los Angeles, US · Founded 2019 · 8 known investors
Quilter builds physics-driven AI that automatically generates printed circuit board (PCB) layouts, using Maxwell's equations, thermodynamics, and manufacturing constraints rather than human design patterns. It serves hardware engineering teams as an alternative to traditional EDA tools, aiming to replace manual trace routing with automated computation.
Also known as Quilter AI
Founders & leadership
Quilter was founded in 2019 by Sergiy Nesterenko.
Board
Investors · 8
Also in the syndicate · 3
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$25M disclosed across 1 of 6 rounds · 2019–2025
- $25MSeries BOct 2025 · 2 sourcesSource ↗
Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Former SpaceX avionics engineer Sergiy Nesterenko founded Quilter in 2019 after seeing manual PCB layout delay rocket and hardware programs. Rather than imitate human layouts, its reinforcement-learning system explores a design space under Maxwell-equation, thermal, geometric, signal-integrity, manufacturing and user constraints. The product performs stackup, component placement, trace routing, pours and validation, outputs multiple candidates in hours and supports human pre-routing for RF or other sensitive sections. It is sold per board/project and pin count, with unlimited iterations and cloud or self-hosted/air-gapped deployment. A 2025 Project Speedrun demonstration produced a dual-PCB 843-component Linux computer in a week with 38.5 human hours and a first-power-on Debian boot. Quilter has raised $40m and reports adoption in Fortune 500 aerospace, defense, semiconductor and consumer-electronics environments.
Founding story
Nesterenko spent five years building radiation-hardened Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy avionics at SpaceX and identified layout—not fabrication—as an enduring bottleneck, inspiring a circuit-board 'compiler.'
Business model
B2B electronic-design-automation software for hardware R&D teams, including enterprise and sensitive government/defense deployment.
Project-based usage pricing determined by unrouted pin count rather than seats or annual licenses; higher-cost private/self-hosted deployments and enterprise support.
Traction
100,000+ candidate PCB designs generated during nine months of closed beta before the 2024 open beta. Current company claims include production use in large aerospace/defense/consumer firms and an independently publicized 843-component Project Speedrun board that booted on first power-up.
Latest developments
2026 releases emphasize fully autonomous high-complexity layouts, pin-based project pricing, SOC 2 Type 2 cloud, customer-owned AWS/Kubernetes and air-gapped deployments, while Cadence's new AuraStack increases incumbent competition.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, ownership, risks & controversies
Market position
AI-native challenger to manual PCB layout and incumbent EDA workflows, competing with startup tools such as DeepPCB/Flux/Diode and new automation from Cadence, Altium and Siemens.
Attempts complete placement and routing rather than recommendations or partial autorouting, explores many candidates in parallel, evaluates physics rather than copying human patterns, and returns editable native files without format lock-in.
Technology
Reinforcement learning, neural networks, distributed GPU compute, constraint optimization and physics checks spanning electromagnetics, signal/power integrity, thermals and manufacturability; native ECAD parsing/export and Kubernetes deployment.
Go-to-market
Free evaluation/startup access and engineering-led onboarding, then direct enterprise sales based on board projects, design throughput, security/deployment needs and measurable cycle-time savings.
Electrical engineers, PCB designers and R&D leaders building aerospace, defense, semiconductor evaluation, robotics, automotive and consumer-electronics boards.
Hardware startups, Fortune 500 manufacturers, aerospace contractors, national laboratories, semiconductor teams and regulated/ITAR programs.
Geography
Los Angeles-based, historically remote US team; cloud and customer-controlled AWS/Kubernetes deployments serve global and sensitive US programs.
History
Founded 2019; roughly $5m prior/seed capital inferred from the company's later $40m cumulative disclosure; nine-month closed beta generated 100k+ designs; $10m Benchmark-led Series A/open beta in February 2024; autonomous layout milestones and commercial expansion in 2024-25; $25m Index-led Series B in October 2025; Project Speedrun working computer announced late 2025; pricing and deployment moved to project/pin-based production packaging in 2026.
Ownership
Privately held by founder/employees and investors including Index Ventures, Benchmark, Coatue, Root Ventures, Harrison Metal and individual hardware leaders including Lip-Bu Tan; cap table undisclosed.
Risks & controversies
PCB output must survive physical fabrication and validation, and users remain responsible for design decisions. Published benchmarks and comparison guides are vendor-authored; mission-critical adoption/customer names are mostly confidential. Incumbents are adding AI agents. Exact seed round, revenue, customer count, error/first-pass rates and valuations are undisclosed.
Compiled by commissioned research from 10 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Competitors · 2
by search overlap
Companies competing with Quilter for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Pricing
as listed Aug 2026Public list pricing as researched from the company's own pricing pages; negotiated and enterprise terms vary.
Timeline · 4
launches, deals, and filingsDual-board 843-component Linux computer was designed in one week with 38.5 human hours and booted on first power-up.
Nina Achadjian joined the board; company disclosed $40m total funding.
Product opened after nine months of closed beta and 100k+ generated designs.
Sergiy Nesterenko began building a physics-driven PCB compiler after SpaceX avionics work.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
Legal entities · 1
corporate structureIn the news
Quilter Investors red flags majority of Cirilium Active funds alongside 17 sub-advised funds in AoVinvestmentweek.co.uk · Aug 2026▸Research sources · 10
primary sources listed
- 2026 guide to autonomous PCB designQuilter · company comparison
- The agile hardware revolutionQuilter · company blog
- Quilter secures $25m Series BQuilter / Business Wire · company press release
- Quilter raises $25M Series BQuilter · company announcement
- Quilter raises $10M to build the compiler for circuit boardsQuilter · company announcement
- Quilter – Physics-Driven AI for Electronics DesignQuilter · company website
- Quilter pricingQuilter · pricing page
10 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Quilter do?
- Physics-driven AI system that autonomously places, routes and validates fabrication-ready printed circuit boards.
- Who founded Quilter?
- Quilter was founded by Sergiy Nesterenko in 2019.
- Who are Quilter's investors?
- Quilter's investors include Coatue Management, Index Ventures, Root Ventures Manager, Llc, Benchmark, Root Ventures.
- How much funding has Quilter raised?
- Quilter has disclosed $25M raised across 1 of its 6 known rounds.
- Where is Quilter headquartered?
- Quilter is headquartered in Los Angeles, US.