Startup secures $10M to modernize legacy factories with AI technology

Even as Silicon Valley startups pour funding into futuristic, highly automated factories, a newer player is betting that the future of American manufacturing will depend on empowering the facilities that already exist. Harmoni, a startup providing custom tablets and AI-driven software for factory floors, has secured $10 million in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, according to an exclusive statement to Business Insider. The company declined to reveal its latest valuation.

Founded in 2023, Harmoni currently serves around 40 manufacturing customers and expects to add another ten in the coming month. Its largest customer segment is aerospace and defense, sectors where precision and efficiency are paramount. The latest investment follows intensified efforts across the United States to reindustrialize after decades defined by the offshoring of manufacturing jobs and capabilities.

While some startups such as Hadrian and Machina Labs are constructing entirely new, robot-heavy factory environments, Harmoni differentiates itself by focusing on the estimated 280,000 American factories equipped with traditional machinery and largely reliant on human workers. “We’ve built this specifically to arm these guys to compete with these autonomous factories,” said cofounder David Caputo.

Manufacturers have long managed factory work using an array of disconnected software solutions. Existing options, from providers like MachineMetrics and Datanomix, often track machine status and production output, while other tools monitor workforce activity, maintenance, and task instructions. Harmoni’s pitch is rooted in the idea that stitching together all of these disparate systems poses a significant burden for manufacturers, a challenge Caputo and cofounder Adam Ellis - an experienced manufacturing consultant - encountered regularly.

At the core of Harmoni’s offering are custom tablets that magnetically attach to both modern and decades-old machinery, even those built during World War II. These devices allow workers to clock in, access instructions, monitor jobs, and report problems - all from a single interface. Before adopting Harmoni, employees at San Jose-based aerospace supplier WessDel would have to line up at multiple kiosks to clock in and manually input machine data, a process that vice president Jeff McKay estimated once consumed up to an hour of a worker’s day.

Industrial automation is unevenly distributed in the U.S., with large firms such as Amazon far ahead while many small and mid-sized manufacturers still function using legacy systems predating the internet, according to Dr. Shokoufeh Mirzaei, chair of industrial and manufacturing engineering at Cal Poly Pomona. Reluctance to spend on new equipment is common, but there is openness to retrofitting existing machinery for improved efficiency.

Harmoni is now leveraging the data collected by its tablets to introduce AI-powered features. Its latest product, called HAL, uses real-time factory information to answer operational questions and execute tasks. The system provides context-aware support, allowing workers to investigate issues like why a particular machine is running slowly and to request maintenance or flag problems for others, using natural language.

Labor shortages continue to trouble the manufacturing sector. Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute estimate U.S. manufacturers will need 3.8 million additional workers by 2033, with about half of those roles possibly going unfilled. William Melek, director of RoboHub at the University of Waterloo, suggested technologies like Harmoni’s could help manufacturers address this gap by streamlining repetitive administrative work, though he noted that new technologies may face union resistance over potential job impacts.

Caputo emphasizes that Harmoni’s products are intended to support factories staffed by people, aiming to eliminate tedious paperwork rather than cut jobs. Many customers report difficulty in hiring enough workers, reinforcing the appeal of technologies that boost efficiency. Looking ahead, Caputo acknowledged that fully humanoid robotic workforces remain a distant prospect, but added that Harmoni’s platform could theoretically support robot coordination should that scenario materialize. In his view, the immediate priority for American manufacturing is equipping the existing workforce and infrastructure to compete in a rapidly changing industrial landscape.