Arrakis Emerges from Stealth with $38 Million to Bring AI to Factories and Supply Chains
Arrakis, a London and Paris startup founded by former Accel VP Rafael Quintanilla and three ex-Palantir and Delivery Hero engineers, has raised $38 million in funding to develop an AI operating system for industrial sectors like aerospace and logistics. The Series A round was led by Blossom Capital, valuing Arrakis at $140 million post-money, according to Fortune.
Key Takeaways:
- Focus on Industrial Sectors: Arrakis believes the biggest AI payoff lies in manufacturing, energy, and logistics, not office productivity software.
- Forward-Deployed Engineers: The startup sends AI engineers directly to customer sites, offering a model-agnostic approach using commercial models from OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as open-source alternatives from vendors like Mistral.
- Performance-Based Pricing: Arrakis ties roughly half its fees to performance targets, demonstrating measurable results.
- Target Customers: Family-controlled businesses are their ideal customers due to faster decision-making processes compared to publicly traded corporations.
Angel Investors: Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel, OpenAI head of business products Olivier Godement, and Junaid Hussein, founder of Cambridge Aerospace, were among the investors in the round.