Hardware testing startup Nominal reaches $1B valuation after raising $155M in under a year

Nominal said on Thursday that it has secured a new $80 million Series B extension round at a $1 billion valuation, with Founders Fund leading the investment. The announcement comes after the company raised a $75 million Series B round in September, led by Sequoia.

The company develops software designed to help hardware engineers test their systems and originally emerged as a picks-and-shovels-style startup serving the defence sector. Nominal, which is based in Los Angeles and is about 3.5 years old, says it has signed four of the five largest defence contractors as customers over the past 10 months.

CEO and co-founder Cameron McCord is a former U.S. Navy submarine officer and previously worked at the defence technology company Anduril, which is now one of Nominal’s standout customers. Given that background, it may not be surprising that Anduril co-founder and executive chairman Trae Stephens, who is also a partner at Founders Fund, led the round as a preemptive deal, McCord told Bloomberg. Sequoia, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, Red Glass, and Lightspeed also joined the financing.

Looking ahead, Nominal plans to expand beyond defence technology and into industrial sectors such as automotive, robotics, and other areas. The company says it has already made progress on that front. According to Nominal, among its additional customers are Pratt Miller Motorsports, which runs the Corvette Racing Team, and the nuclear energy company Antares.