Arda, AI manufacturing software company founded by former OpenAI research head Bob McGrew, raises $230 million at $1.5 billion valuation

October 21 - According to CNBC, Arda, an AI manufacturing software company founded by former OpenAI research head Bob McGrew, has completed a $230 million funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by Altimeter Capital, Accel, and Khosla Ventures. Arda develops AI agents for manufacturing engineers to speed up production line setup and modification, and its product has already been deployed at defense technology company Anduril. McGrew said that after a product design change, adjusting an automated production line typically takes 3 to 6 months. Arda uses a combination of self-developed models, open-source models, and frontier models, and next plans to enter the robotics field. Other co-founders include Adept co-founder Augustus Odena, as well as former Palantir engineers Alex Mark and Jakob Frick. McGrew left OpenAI in 2024.