Orbital Industries, a London-based deeptech company developing industrial hardware using artificial intelligence, has closed a €43 million Series B funding round (approximately $50 million). The round was led by Plural, with participation from NVentures (NVIDIA), Radical Ventures, Compound, and Fly Ventures.
Founded in 2022, Orbital Industries works at the intersection of hardware design and machine learning, utilizing AI to optimise the development of industrial products from the ground up. The company’s approach marks a shift in how manufacturers approach product engineering, leveraging computational methods to improve efficiency and performance.
Scaling Data Centre Solutions
The funding will primarily support the scaling of Orbital Industries’ data centre product offerings. Data centre infrastructure remains a critical bottleneck in the global rollout of AI services, with demand for efficient cooling, power management, and hardware optimisation reaching unprecedented levels. By combining AI-driven design with hardware engineering, Orbital Industries positions itself to address some of these infrastructure challenges.
Beyond capital deployment, the company plans to substantially expand its artificial intelligence and engineering teams. This expansion reflects the startup’s ambitions to accelerate product development cycles and deepen its technical capabilities across multiple disciplines.
Broader Platform Vision
The Series B injection of capital also enables Orbital Industries to develop its platform for industrial applications extending beyond data centres. This suggests the company is building generalised design and optimisation tools that could eventually serve various manufacturing sectors, from semiconductor production to renewable energy infrastructure.
“When people imagine a better future, they think about physical things: technologies that give them more freedom, more time, more life. AI will get us there faster. That’s what we set out to do at Orbital Industries,” said Jonathan Godwin, the company’s founder.
Growing Momentum in European Deeptech
Orbital Industries’ funding success reflects a broader trend of increasing investor confidence in European deeptech ventures. The presence of NVIDIA’s venture arm alongside traditional venture capital firms underscores the sector’s strategic importance to established technology companies seeking innovative approaches to hardware challenges.
The UK startup ecosystem continues to attract substantial capital despite broader macroeconomic uncertainties. Orbital Industries joins a growing cohort of British deeptech companies addressing infrastructure and industrial challenges through novel applications of machine learning and computational design.
The company’s focus on tangible industrial applications differentiates it from numerous AI startups concentrating solely on software solutions. As global economies grapple with energy efficiency, manufacturing scalability, and infrastructure modernisation, hardware-focused AI companies increasingly attract investor attention and corporate partnerships.