AI Startup Adam Secures $4.1 Million to Create Innovative Cad Copilot Following Viral Success
Adam, an AI startup known for its text-to-3D model app, has raised $4.1 million in funding from TQ Ventures, following a remarkable debut that garnered over 10 million impressions across social media platforms.
CEO Zach Dive expressed how the overwhelming interest in their product led to term sheets flooding their inbox without the need for extensive meetings, highlighting the startup’s growing appeal among investors.
The partnership with TQ Ventures is founded on a shared vision for the future of computer-aided design (CAD) and aligns with Adam’s strategic focus on a consumer-first approach before transitioning to enterprise solutions. According to Dive, leveraging consumer interest in a trending product has proven beneficial, setting the stage for the launch of their professional-grade CAD copilot by year-end.
Originally targeting a B2B model, Adam redirected its focus, beginning with makers rather than engineers, as the technology wasn’t sufficiently advanced for professional application. However, rapid advancements in AI technologies have prompted Adam to accelerate its plans. Their current tool empowers creators without CAD expertise to develop 3D models using text prompts; feedback has indicated that users benefit from a more intuitive interaction. The upcoming copilot will enhance this experience by introducing multiple interaction methods, allowing users to select and converse with different parts of a 3D object.
The AI copilot segment already has competitors like MecAgent, but Adam’s viral launch positions it favorably to attract a wider audience. The startup is actively hiring to enhance its capabilities, seeking talent in AI and engineering to refine their models for better contextual reasoning. Dive, along with co-founder and Chief Product Officer Aaron Li, both alumni of UC Berkeley’s Master of Design program, recognizes the necessity of having skilled personnel for future growth.
In addition to TQ Ventures, Adam has secured backing from funds such as 468 Capital, Pioneer, Script Capital, and Transpose Platform, as well as angel investors including Tim Glaser from Posthog and Trevor Blackwell from Y Combinator. Vercel founder Guillermo Rauch has also praised Adam as “the v0 of CAD,” emphasizing its approach as a simpler and faster solution appealing to a diverse user base.
With tens of thousands of individual users and a rapidly growing group of paying customers for standard and pro plans starting at $5.99 and $17.99 monthly, Adam is in a strong position. While monetization of the anticipated enterprise offering has yet to commence, testing is underway to validate various features, crucial for the transition from assisting amateur creators to supporting professional engineers in their workflow.
Initially focusing on mechanical engineering, Adam aims to empower users in generating feature-rich parametric designs within established CAD platforms, beginning with Onshape. Dive predicts that similar innovations will define the relationship between AI and CAD in the near future.
