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Quilter

Category: AI Developer Tools

An AI-powered physics-driven platform that automates printed circuit board (PCB) design through reinforcement learning, transforming weeks of manual layout work into hours of autonomous design generation. Quilter was founded in 2019. The company is led by Sergiy Nesterenko. Based in Los Angeles, USA. Team size: 31. Total funding raised: $40.0M. Latest round: Series B ($25.0M, October 2025). Key investors include ["Index Ventures","Benchmark","Coatue","Root Ventures","Lip-Bu Tan"].

Founded
2019
Headquarters
Los Angeles, USA
Team size
31
Total funding
$40.0M

Value proposition

Compresses PCB design cycles from weeks to hours while maintaining physics-validated, manufacturable designs that eliminate costly revisions and accelerate time-to-market for hardware products

Products and solutions

["Autonomous PCB Layout Engine","Physics-Driven Design Validation System","Multi-Candidate Design Generation Platform","Native CAD Integration Tools","Constraint-Aware Component Placement System","High-Speed Signal Integrity Optimizer"]

Unique value

Physics-first reinforcement learning approach that trains on electromagnetic and thermal principles rather than historical design data, enabling truly autonomous layout generation without requiring large datasets of existing PCBs

Target customer

Hardware engineering teams, aerospace/defense contractors, consumer electronics manufacturers, Fortune 500 companies requiring rapid PCB prototyping and design automation

Industries served

["Semiconductors","Aerospace & Defense","Consumer Electronics","Hardware Development","Electronic Design Automation"]

Technology advantage

Integrates real-time physics validation (signal integrity, thermal dynamics, manufacturability) directly into the AI generation loop, producing 'correct by construction' designs that eliminate the traditional iterative design-check-revise cycle

How they differentiate

Physics-driven reinforcement learning AI that autonomously generates complete PCB layouts in hours, integrating with existing EDA workflows rather than replacing them

Main competitors

["Flux.ai","JITX","Cadence (Allegro X AI)"]

Key partnerships

["Index Ventures (Series B lead investor)","Benchmark (Series A lead investor)","Coatue Management","Root Ventures","Industry expert Lip-Bu Tan (advisor/investor)","Altium (CAD integration partner)"]

Notable customers

["Defense contractors (spaceflight qualification tests)","Global Tier-1 automotive company","Major electronics distributor"]

Major milestones

["First company to publicly demonstrate fully autonomous PCB layout through physics-driven AI","Successfully designed 843-part Linux computer that booted on first try","SOC 2 Type II compliance observation in progress","Series B led by Index Ventures in October 2025"]

Growth metrics

31 employees with 33% year-over-year growth. Fortune 500 aerospace, defense, and consumer electronics companies representing $500B market cap rapidly adopting technology; OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers representing $8T combined market value engaged

Market positioning

AI-native PCB layout automation layer positioned as 'beyond assisted automation' - turning layout from weeks-long manual process to hours-long autonomous batch job

Geographic focus

North America and Western Europe primary markets, with secondary focus on East Asia through EDA tool compatibility

Patents and IP

No publicly disclosed patents as of latest update; technology appears to be protected as trade secrets around their physics-driven RL engine and integrated constraint-solving methods

About Sergiy Nesterenko

Former Senior Radiation Effects Engineer at SpaceX (2014-2019), where he developed radiation-hardened electronics for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. Founded Quilter in 2019 after experiencing firsthand how PCB design bottlenecks impacted launch schedules.

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