Solideon

Solideon is an advanced manufacturing company developing autonomous, deployable factories intended to produce hardware without significant human intervention. Its platform combines additive manufacturing (multi-axis 3D printing and 3D welding) with subtractive CNC machining, assembly, inspection and testing, coordinated by proprietary software that applies AI and machine learning to generatively design structures, plan builds and feed test data back into design. The company states its systems remove the need for traditional tooling (which it describes as taking 4+ months), eliminate more than 90% of human intervention in manufacturing, improve part weight by up to 20% and improve lead times by upwards of 20%. Its named product line includes the Aperture system, a collaborative robotic cell integrating additive manufacturing, CNC machining and inspection for aerospace components.

The company positions itself as an end-to-end platform for bespoke manufacturing and assembly and describes itself as the world's only large-scale manufacturing entity capable of crafting any aerospace vehicle, with a stated goal of delivering aerospace components roughly 70% faster than traditional methods. Its architecture uses off-the-shelf robotic arms sized to fit inside a shipping/connex container, enabling a containerized "factory-in-a-box" that can be deployed alongside existing infrastructure and qualified systems, and it applies swarm manufacturing techniques using multiple robots. Long term, the company's stated objective is autonomous manufacturing and assembly of entire vehicles in orbit and off-planet.

Solideon was originally focused on space manufacturing under the name Additive Space Technologies and broadened into other heavy industries, with a growing emphasis on defense technology. It is an alumnus of the Techstars accelerator and was a 2024 TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield Top 20 finalist.

Founding story

Founder and CEO Oluseun Taiwo, a first-generation Nigerian-American, worked with metal 3D printers in a research lab at Northern Illinois University and joined the early team at Rocket Lab USA out of school, where as a propulsion engineer he worked on 3D-printed rocket engines to reduce cost. He was then recruited to Virgin Galactic/Virgin Orbit as an early employee building a 3D-printing-enabled production line. After Virgin Orbit's first launch attempt failed at the start of COVID-19 lockdowns and layoffs followed, his team proposed 3D printing rocket components remotely; management declined a broader proposal to use the capability to address supply-chain problems, on the basis that Virgin Orbit was a rocket company rather than a manufacturing company. Two insights followed: that if a well-capitalized rocket company struggled to source parts, the problem was industry-wide, and that reaching Mars would require autonomous manufacturing in space rather than launching everything from Earth. Those conclusions led him to found Solideon.

Business model

Solideon develops and operates robotic manufacturing systems that produce aerospace and defense structures, positioning itself as an end-to-end platform for bespoke manufacturing and assembly rather than a seller of additional hardware to customers. Revenue-relevant engagements evidenced in sources include U.S. government contracting (an AFWERX Direct-to-Phase II SBIR contract) and participation in Department of Defense manufacturing demonstrations.

Traction

Sources report a $1.25 million AFWERX Direct-to-Phase II SBIR contract to develop a deployable single-pallet additive manufacturing cell, participation in the U.S. Navy's Trident Warrior 2025 exercise (described by the company as the largest distributed manufacturing demonstration in DoD history), a strategic MOU with ACUA Ocean, the opening of Solideon Defense in Norfolk, and deployment of the Aperture system for aerospace components. Reported cumulative funding figures range from $5 million (TechCrunch, as of January 2025) to $8 million (Forbes, January 2024), with the company also citing a $5.1 million raise; it reported oversubscribing its pre-seed goal. Recognition includes the TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 Startup Battlefield Top 20 and the Black Flag 100 deep tech list.

Latest developments

Recent items reported on the company's news page include the opening of Solideon Defense in Norfolk, Virginia to serve the U.S. shipbuilding ecosystem, a strategic memorandum of understanding with ACUA Ocean covering AUKUS-aligned dual-use manufacturing, participation in the U.S. Navy's Trident Warrior 2025 exercise, and a $1.25 million AFWERX Direct-to-Phase II SBIR contract for a deployable single-pallet additive manufacturing cell. The company also states it is scaling its Berkeley factory, advancing technology readiness for containerized deployable production, and hiring engineers. TechCrunch's profile listed the company as currently raising as of January 2025.