Los Angeles-based Opdo has raised $2.3 million in Pre-Seed funding to develop AI tools for optical engineering and manufacturing. The round was led by Angular Ventures, with participation from Inflection and Tiny.vc.
Founded by Stephan Kuehr (CEO) and Yousef Arzhangnia (CTO), Opdo is developing a system that connects AI-assisted optical design and simulation with manufacturing data. The company has spent more than a year working with customers on optical engineering projects and reports reducing development and production timelines from months to weeks.
Kuehr previously co-founded 3YOURMIND, a manufacturing software company focused on digital inventories and distributed production. Together, the founders bring experience in manufacturing, optical engineering, artificial intelligence and automation.
Using AI to Accelerate Optical Design and Manufacturing
Optical components are used in technologies ranging from laser systems and advanced sensors to aerospace, quantum computing and augmented reality. Designing these systems requires specialist expertise, extensive simulation and physical testing, which can make development cycles lengthy and expensive.
Opdo is developing AI agents that operate within existing optical design software, including Zemax and CODE V. Rather than requiring engineers to adopt an entirely new design environment, the technology supports established workflows and helps automate parts of the engineering process.
The company combines its software with services provided by its own optical engineers. Customers can use Opdo to develop and verify optical designs, access specialist engineering support and source prototypes or finished components through the company.
A central part of its approach is connecting simulation with manufacturing. Data collected from manufactured and tested components can be incorporated into subsequent design iterations, allowing the system to refine its models based on physical results.
Opdo’s customer projects already cover laser and imaging systems, micro-optics and nanostructured surfaces. The company says its combination of AI tools and engineering expertise has shortened development and manufacturing cycles that previously took months to a matter of weeks.
“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.
$2.3M Pre-Seed to Expand Engineering Capabilities
Opdo will use the new funding to expand its engineering capabilities, improve its AI tools and support a larger number of customer projects. The company is also recruiting optical designers, photonics engineers and metrology specialists as it develops its approach to AI-assisted engineering.
The investment was led by Angular Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on deep technology companies.
“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.
Inflection also participated in the round, with Founding Partner Alexander Lange highlighting the company’s use of manufacturing data to improve optical simulation and design.
Opdo plans to continue developing its AI agents alongside its engineering services, using results from real-world manufacturing projects to improve future designs. Its immediate focus is on expanding the number and complexity of optical systems it can help customers develop, from initial requirements through to production-ready components.
