APriori designs $30m series D

APriori Technologies, a US-based digital manufacturing software spinout of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, raised $30m in a series D round co-led by PBJ Capital and Omega Venture Partners on Tuesday.
The round boosted the company’s valuation to $280m.
Founded in 2004, aPriori has created a software platform which lets industrial clients such as automotive manufacturers gain insight into cost and manufacturing feasibility of their designs in real time.
The funding will be used to develop aPriori’s suite of cloud applications, which include Cost Insight Design and Cost Insight Generate – both designed to give manufacturers visibility into their design costs – as well as growing its team and expanding its marketing and sales capabilities.
Architecture software producer Autodesk led a $26.8m series C round in 2019, which also featured NewSpring Capital, PBJ Capital, Oyster Angel Fund, Sigma Prime Ventures, Sigma Ventures and Gutbrain Ventures, the last of which followed up with a $5m second tranche in April 2021 valuing it at $200m.
Bob Davoli, chairman of aPriori, said: “The future for aPriori is incredibly positive. During my career as an investor, I have never seen a company that delivers such a strong return on investment to its customers.
“Even more remarkable is that no other player has the competitive offering aPriori has, giving them a dominant market position. Furthermore, the deployment process is designed so time to value is incredibly short.
“In just a few months, a customer has typically already earned back their original investment in aPriori, and everything after that contributes directly to reducing [cost of goods sold] and improving product profitability.”
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.