Seattle lands another $1B startup: Here's the latest arrival in the industrial AI boom. by John Cook on Jul 29, 2026 at 9:10 am Seattle's emergence as a hub for companies building the next generation of industrial technology is drawing another high-profile startup. Los Angeles-based Nominal, whose software helps engineers build, test and validate complex hardware systems, is establishing a permanent Seattle office as it ramps up hiring and looks for a larger home in the region. The nearly 4-year-old company currently employs 11 people at a downtown Seattle co-working space, and expects to more than double that number by the end of the year. The company is also relocating Head of Product Stephen Slattery, the former director of technical operations at defense tech giant Anduril Industries, from Los Angeles to Seattle to oversee the new office. Employing about 200 employees globally, Nominal also operates offices in Austin, New York, Washington, D.C., and London. Seattle's concentration of tech and aerospace talent, along with proximity to key partners and customers, attracted the fast-growing company. Nominal CEO Cameron McCord said Seattle is one of only a handful of U.S. markets with a deep concentration of engineers experienced in solving large-scale infrastructure and reliability problems. Seattle's aerospace heritage also appealed to the company. "Some of the magic of Nominal is putting them in one room," McCord told GeekWire. The company boasts 75 customers, about half of which are in the defense sector. It also sells its software to companies in the energy, robotics and automotive arenas. The Seattle expansion comes just months after Nominal raised an $80 million venture capital round led by Founders Fund at a $1 billion valuation, part of a growing trend of companies serving industries where artificial intelligence is accelerating innovation in the physical world. "Nominal exists to help these engineering teams rethink their data supply chain: the end-to-end flow from instrumentation through acquisition, storage, analysis, reporting, and into the decisions that shape the next design," the company wrote in the funding announcement. Seattle has increasingly become a landing spot for companies operating at the intersection of AI and the physical world, while some of the region's fastest-growing homegrown startups - including Overland AI, Carbon Robotics, Brinc and Stoke Space - are helping define the category. In recent months, defense tech company Anduril has expanded its operations in the Seattle area. AI infrastructure startup Armada - which like Nominal is backed by Founders Fund - and AI giants Anthropic and OpenAI also have opened new offices or expanded engineering centers in the region. Nominal's McCord, a former U.S. Navy submarine officer and nuclear engineer who previously worked at Anduril, said conversations with former colleagues, including Anduril co-founder and COO Matt Grimm, helped reinforce Seattle's appeal. "I've been able to get a lot of advice and thoughts from him on what it looks like to properly enter the Seattle market," said McCord. "Everything from him is incredibly positive on the talent and density." While Nominal has gained traction among defense contractors - McCord said four of the five traditional U.S. defense companies use its software - he said the company increasingly sees opportunities across a number of industries. The energy sector - including nuclear, fusion and batteries - as well as AI data center infrastructure are growing areas of interest for the young company. The Seattle office will be more than an engineering outpost. McCord said Seattle will become a full cross-functional location, with engineering, sales, customer success, design and other teams represented as it grows. The company expects the Seattle office to reach roughly 20 to 25 employees by the end of this year and could double again to 40 or 50 employees by the end of 2027. It is currently looking for a permanent office space, likely targeting downtown Seattle. McCord said the Seattle office will play a key role in Nominal's growth as it looks to reimagine the unique challenges that industrial companies face in building hardware systems for this new era. "There's a huge market opportunity as the world reindustrializes," he said. See this interview with McCord by General Catalyst's Paul Kwan for more on the company:

Nominal, a hardware testing platform co-founded by former Navy officer Cameron McCord, has raised funding from Lux Capital to streamline hardware development testing. The company emerged from McCord's frustration with outdated testing tools whilst working at Anduril. The platform proved its worth when Hermeus, a hypersonic aircraft company, used Nominal to complete data review in minutes rather than weeks during a critical flight test at Edwards Air Force Base in May 2025. The compressed timeline allowed Hermeus to conduct both taxi and liftoff tests within two hours. McCord, who spent five years on the submarine USS Helena before serving as a Navy liaison to Congress, co-founded Nominal with Bryce Strauss and Jason Hoch after graduating from Harvard Business School. The company aims to accelerate hardware development across aerospace, automotive and robotics sectors.