CloudNC raises $20M to automate manufacturing’s most pressing bottlenecks; plus, Sequoia doubles down on Cymphony

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1:13That's Framer.com slash tcstartups. Rules and restrictions may apply. UK-based manufacturing software startup CloudNC announced a$20 million B extension round on Wednesday, bringing its lifetime total raised amount to$128 million. The company's last major raise was four years ago. Its co-founder and CEO Theo Seville told TechCrunch. Seville launched CloudNC in 2015 with Chris Emery, now the company's chief science officer, and offers AI-powered CAM Assist software that automates parts of computer numerical control machining. Now, CNC is the process of using computer-controlled machines to cut or shape materials precisely into the parts that are then used in automotive, defense, or consumer hardware industries.

2:06Before a part can be cut, Seville said a machinist or a computer-aided manufacturing programmer has to decide issues like how a part should be held or what tools should be used. They typically use powerful CAM software to help with this ideation phase, and although some of these tools can help users create part features or known part patterns, that's different from looking at the part and generating an execution strategy an expert would actually want to use. Seville said traditional CAM systems are powerful, but in most workflows, they are still tools that allow programmers to manually specify how a part should be machine.

2:48This is where his CAM Assist comes in, a software that plugs into traditional CAM systems like Autodesk Fusion or Mastercam to help machinists and programmers make more efficient strategic manufacturing decisions. Seville said it selects suitable tools, approach directions, and cutting feeds and speeds, and then drafts the code required to tell the CNC machine what to do. From there, the user reviews, edits, and approves the results. Seville said the goal was to help skilled workers be more efficient and productive, rather than removing expert judgment from the process. If traditional CAM is a powerful toolkit, then CAM Assist is more like an expert assistant sitting alongside the programmer, automating much of the first-pass thinking and repetitive setup so the human can review, improve, and approve the approach.

3:42Seville said more than 1 ,000 machine shops worldwide use CamAssist, and 80 % of the company's customer base, which includes both manufacturers and companies, is in the U.S. With a team of 80 employees, the company's biggest goal is scaling adoption. Well, as AI agents gain access to the same sensitive corporate data and systems as human workers while operating at machine speed, enterprises are prone to new security risks. Storied venture firm Sequoia Capital is betting big on that shift, backing startup Symphony as it emerges with$30 million in funding to help companies keep their growing AI workforce in check.

4:28The funding includes a$25 million Series A co-led by Sequoia and SMBC Fin Atlas Beyond Fund, valuing the New York and Tel Aviv-based startup at more than$100 million after investment. The round follows a previously undisclosed seed investment from Sequoia. AI agents do not necessarily go through the same access and identity controls as employees, but they have access to multiple systems and handle large amounts of corporate data. This makes it hard for enterprises to track who has access to what. Symfony is trying to address that gap by giving security teams a single view of employees, AI agents, and other non-human identities, including the systems and sensitive data they can access.

5:16At the core of its platform, the two-year-old startup has built what it calls a workforce graph. This brings together identity, data, and activity signals. Symfony co-founder and CEO Shai Dekel says enterprise security was designed for human employees. Symfony says it is already finding risks inside large companies. At one U.S. public company, the startup said it found about 85 ,000 files that have become accessible to AI tools and agents. Symfony stated it helped close the exposure and verified that none of the files had been accessed through those AI systems. In another case, Steckl told TechCrunch that an external collaborator had installed an unsanctioned instance of Anthropics Cloud that used the collaborator's existing access to scan thousands of sensitive files.

6:09Beyond identifying risks, Symfony uses AI agents to investigate incidents, prioritize what security teams should address and automate some remediation, including correcting access permissions. Dekel said the platform can operate largely automatically and that customers can also opt for a managed service that brings Symfony's security experts into the loop for more complex cases. That's all for now. For the latest in startup tech news, go to TechCrunch.com.

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