Los Angeles and Berlin-based AI optical engineering startup Opdo has raised $2.3 million in a pre-seed funding round. The company plans to use the funding to develop its technology and automate the optical engineering process, from initial design to finished products.
Opdo is building an AI-powered system that connects product design and simulation with real manufacturing data. Its technology has already helped reduce the time needed for product development and manufacturing from several months to just a few weeks.
For more than a year, Opdo has been working with customers to design complex optical systems. The company combines AI agents with the knowledge of experienced engineers to make the design process faster and easier. Its technology works with existing optical design software, including Zemax and CODE V, so engineers can improve their work without changing the tools they already use. Opdo also provides engineering support and helps customers source prototypes and finished components.
Optical technology plays an important role in several industries, including quantum computing, aerospace, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), defence and advanced sensing. However, designing and manufacturing optical components can take a long time and requires specialist skills. The growing demand for experienced optical engineers has also created challenges for companies in these industries.
Opdo aims to solve these problems by connecting optical design with real-world manufacturing. The system collects data from manufactured and tested components and uses it to improve future designs. This allows its AI models to learn from real results and gradually automate more of the engineering process, from the initial requirements to production-ready products.
The company is already working on projects involving laser and imaging systems, micro-optics and nanostructured surfaces.
“Every hardware team we talk to has an optics problem waiting in line. The engineers who can solve it are scarce, and the tools were built for a different era,” said Stephan Kuehr, co-founder and CEO of Opdo.
“Optics is one of the last deep engineering disciplines that AI has barely touched, yet it underpins some of the most important technologies being developed today,” said Jerry Dischler, Partner at Angular Ventures.
Opdo was founded by experienced entrepreneurs Stephan Kuehr and Yousef Arzhangnia, who is also the company’s CTO. They bring experience in manufacturing, optical engineering, AI and automation.
The new funding will help Opdo strengthen its engineering team, improve its AI technology and work on more customer projects. Companies that want to speed up an existing optical design project or develop a new optical component can submit their project details through Opdo’s website.
