About Nominal
Nominal gives hardware engineers one place to understand how machines behave and decide what to do next. It brings hardware data, video, and engineering work into one system. Teams use it across the hardware lifecycle, from development through field operations. They can monitor tests, investigate failures, and automate checks. Engineers can also build custom tools and AI assistants from the same record.
Founded in 2022, Nominal works with more than 80 commercial and government organizations. Its customer base includes five of the seven biggest defense contractors. Its customers include the U.S. Air Force, Anduril, and Shield AI. Cameron McCord is co-founder and CEO. Nominal has six offices, including Los Angeles, Austin, and London.
Funding Rounds (SEC Form D)
| First sale | Filed with SEC | Amount sold | Investors | Avg. check | Terms | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 25, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 | $170,499,805of $171.5M target | 25 | $6.8M | EquityRule 506(b) | Form D ↗ |
| Oct 26, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 | $68,299,814of $68.5M target | 15 | $4.5M | EquityRule 506(b) | Form D ↗ |
| Feb 13, 2026 | Mar 6, 2026 | $79,997,926fully sold | 13 | $6.1M | EquityRule 506(b) | Form D ↗ |
| May 20, 2025 | Jun 16, 2025 | $23,709,943of $23.7M target | 18 | $1.3M | EquityRule 506(b) | Form D ↗ |
| Apr 28, 2025 | Jun 16, 2025 | $50,849,977of $50.8M target | 6 | $8.4M | EquityRule 506(b) | Form D ↗ |
| Nov 21, 2022 | Dec 6, 2022 | $4,854,992of $4.9M target | 18 | $269K | EquityRule 506(b) | Form D ↗ |
| Total, six offerings | $398,212,457 | |||||
First sale is the date the first investor in the offering committed to invest. Companies must file Form D within 15 days of that date, so filing dates run later.
What the SEC Filings Show
- Series B-2 at a $1 billion valuation began taking money on February 13, 2026, 20 days before the announcement. The Form D filed on March 6, 2026 shows $80.0 million sold, the full offering, from 13 investors, or about $6.2 million each. [3]
- Alfredo Lin is listed as a director only on the Form D that Nominal filed on June 16, 2025. [13]
- Brandon Reeves first appears as a director on the Form D that Nominal filed on June 16, 2025. [13]Form D filings that name Brandon Reeves (5):
- Nominal, director: Jun 16, 2025 · Jun 16, 2025 · Mar 6, 2026 · Nov 13, 2026 · Nov 13, 2026
- Paul Kwan first appears as a director on the Form D that Nominal filed on June 16, 2025. [13]
- Alfred Lin of Sequoia Capital, which led the Series B round, first appears as a director on the Form D that Nominal filed on June 16, 2025. [12][17][8]Form D filings that name Alfred Lin (20):
- Humble Bundle, director: Apr 20, 2011
- Airbnb, director: Feb 7, 2014 · Aug 1, 2014 · Dec 7, 2015 · Sep 22, 2016 · Mar 9, 2017 (amended) · Mar 22, 2019 · Apr 26, 2019 (amended) · Aug 9, 2019
- Cobalt Robotics, director: Jun 25, 2019
- Kalshi, director: Feb 23, 2021 · Oct 23, 2025 · Oct 30, 2025 · Nov 6, 2025 · Dec 4, 2025 · Aug 25, 2026
- Nominal, director: Jun 16, 2025 · Mar 6, 2026 · Nov 13, 2026 · Nov 13, 2026
Who Invested in Nominal
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| Announced | Round | Amount | Lead | Other investors | On the Form D | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 9, 2026 | Series C at a $3 billion valuation | $240 million | Lightspeed Venture Partners; Insight Partners | Lux Capital; Sequoia; General Catalyst; Founders Fund; Avenir; Lockheed Martin Ventures; Salesforce Ventures; M13; DE Shaw Ventures; Deployment Capital; Avra; Red Glass Ventures; Carpenter Capital; Audacious; PSP Growth; Overmatch Ventures; XYZ; Haystack; Brave Capital | [5] | |
| Mar 5, 2026 | Series B-2 at a $1 billion valuation | $80 million | Founders Fund | — | First sale Feb 13, 2026; $79,997,926 of $79,997,926 from 13 investors. [3] | [7][15] |
| Jun 12, 2025 | Series B | $75 million | Sequoia Capital | ReturningLux Capital; General Catalyst; Founders Fund. | [8] |
Announced amounts can differ from Form D figures: an announcement can combine several closings, and some money is raised without a Form D.
Why Investors Backed Nominal
Hardware teams often piece evidence together across disconnected systems, slowing test decisions and leaving AI without enough context for dependable engineering work. Lightspeed deepened its backing because Nominal understands hardware engineering and builds software engineers use daily. Sequoia viewed test speed as a constraint Nominal could turn into an advantage. [4][5][8]
“In hardware engineering, where the work is high-stakes and critical knowledge has historically been hard to capture, Nominal gives teams a way to turn that expertise into a durable advantage.”
Origin and Team
Cameron McCord, Bryce Strauss, and Jason Hoch founded Nominal in 2022. The founders came from Anduril, Lockheed Martin, and Palantir. They also brought experience in the Navy, defense, and enterprise software. [2][8]
Product and Technology
Nominal joins physical controls, structured engineering data, AI analysis, and custom applications in one system. Its Connected Control layer commands equipment and captures data where it originates. The data layer preserves each measurement's source and meaning. Nominal Analyst investigates questions, runs analyses, compares results, and returns evidence for engineers to inspect. [4]
Teams can deploy Nominal in its cloud, their own cloud account, on premises, or fully offline. Developers can read and write data through code, use Python or SQL, and connect AI tools through MCP. Its compliance status includes SOC 2 Type II. [1]
In June 2025, Nominal offered two production products. Nominal Core managed high-rate sensor data, logs, video, and procedures in a time-aligned workspace. Nominal Connect let engineers automate tests against physical assets and test stands at the edge. [8]
Ground autonomy teams can align video, logs, and telemetry from each mission, check vehicle behavior automatically, and compare vehicles across terrain and configurations. Operators can add live, audio-transcribed notes. Teams can search annotated runs to build and track training sets. [6]
Anduril uses Nominal across more than six programs, with over 300 engineers relying on it. Analysis that took five to six hours now runs near real time. An HII pilot cut some analyses from hours to minutes and reduced certain production test steps by about half. [2][5]
Scout AI cut the time from upload start to viewing data by 80%. Hermeus built the Quarterhorse MK1 aircraft in seven months and also cut data review time by 80%. VATN cut its surfacing-to-validation time from hours to under five minutes. [2][5]
Odys increased average test flights per day by 43%. REGENT kept telemetry latency below 300 milliseconds between boats and its control room. [2]
Nominal's federal projects cover hypersonic test analysis, flight-test education, and telemetry review for next-generation vehicles. The work targets faster review of complex flight data and faster vehicle assessment. [9]
Use of Funds
Milestones
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| Date | What happened | Source | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 9, 2026 | The Air Force selected Nominal for a $71.2 million Strategic Funding Increase supporting Collaborative Combat Aircraft capabilities. | [5] | — |
| Apr 30, 2026 | Nominal acquired Fid Labs in its first strategic acquisition. The deal added AI-native hardware agents to the platform. | [16] | — |
| Jun 12, 2025 | Nominal reported tenfold year-over-year revenue growth. | [8] | — |
| Jun 12, 2025 | Nominal reported sixfold customer growth across hardware industries. | [8] | — |
| Jun 12, 2025 | Nominal reported dozens of operational field deployments, including hypersonic materials tests and daily drone sorties. | [8] | — |
| 2024 | The federal SBIR/STTR portfolio recorded one Phase I and three Phase II awards totaling $4,323,062. | [9] | — |
Market
Nominal argues that hardware test tools built around decade-long product cycles cannot match products that change every ten weeks. It views continuous validation as more important as defense spending, reindustrialization, and competition shorten schedules. [8]
Retired Maj. Gen. Evan Dertien, a former commander of the Air Force Test Center, argues that faster flight and weapons testing can deliver useful capabilities sooner. [8]
We wrote this summary from public statements by Nominal and its investors. It is not investment advice.
Leadership Team
Executive officers and directors listed on Nominal's Form D filed Nov 13, 2026.
Earlier filings also listed Alfredo Lin (director, last listed Jun 2025) and Bilal Zuberi (director, last listed Dec 2022).
Sources
- CompanyNominal home · linked above ↑
- CompanyAbout Nominal
- SECNominal Form D, filed 2026-03-06 · linked above ↑
- CompanyNominal Series C letter
- CompanyNominal Series C announcement
- CompanyNominal ground autonomy
- CompanyNominal Series B-2 announcement
- PressNominal Series B announcement
- ResearchNominal federal award portfolio
- SECNominal Form D, filed 2026-11-13 · linked above ↑
- SECNominal Form D, filed 2026-11-13 · linked above ↑
- SECNominal Form D, filed 2025-06-16 · linked above ↑
- SECNominal Form D, filed 2025-06-16 · linked above ↑
- SECNominal Form D, filed 2022-12-06 · linked above ↑
- AnnouncementGlobeNewswire Series B-2 release
- Sourceglobenewswire.com
- ProfileAlfred Lin at Sequoia Capital · linked above ↑
- SECNominal, Inc. filing history