Gardena, CA-based Neuron Industries, an industrial technology startup developing AI-powered automation systems, has raised $10 million in seed funding.
The round was co-led by FCVC and Obvious Ventures with participation from Y Combinator, Thin Line Capital, Zee Prime Capital and Founder Factor.
The company will use the funding to develop its industrial control technology, expand its product lineup, and grow its engineering team.
“America’s next generation of factories won’t be running on the last generation’s programming tools,” said Dennis Ren, co-founder and CEO of Neuron Industries. “For too long, automation incumbents have left engineers to navigate vendor-specific programming tools, fragmented software, and steep learning curves. We’re rebuilding the controller and its software together around modern hardware and AI, so more engineers can program, test, and deploy the machines they’re building. Industrial automation is overdue for a fundamental rethink, and we’re delivering it.”
“Reindustrialization will be measured by what new factories produce,” said Mo Islam, partner at Obvious Ventures, which co-led the round. “We backed Neuron because we see industrial controls as a massive opportunity to shorten the path to and change the economics of bringing new manufacturing capacity online. I worked closely with the Neuron team during their tenure at Freeform, and am excited to partner with them again.”
Neuron is building an AI-powered industrial control platform designed to help engineers develop, test, and operate automated machines, production lines, and factories.
Its Cortex AI Controller and Synapse development environment allow engineers to describe machine operations in plain English, generate readable control code, and test automation systems before deploying them.
The company aims to simplify industrial automation by combining machine control, software development, operator interfaces, and production data collection into one platform.
Neuron has already demonstrated its technology at CureWood Engineered Building Products, where it replaced a 1991 Siemens controller on a production line. The project required approximately three hours of engineering work and eight hours of downtime. The company said its approach delivered the project nearly 10 times faster than conventional methods.
Neuron also works with more than a dozen manufacturing startups, including Rise Reforming, Radify Metals, Lazarus Energy, and Nox Metals.
Founded in May 2026 by Dennis Ren and Kenneth Rhee, Neuron plans to launch its Cortex controller in the first quarter of 2027. The company also plans to expand U.S. manufacturing capacity for its products following the launch.
