Launch of Hardware Nominal trial hits $1B valuation, raises $155M in 10 months

Namely Thursday he announced A new $80M Series B round at a cost of $1 billion, led by Founders Fund. This followed the company’s $75M Series B round led by Sequoia in September.

Nominal provides software that helps hardware engineers test their designs and began as a startup brand in the security business. The three-and-a-half-year-old, LA-based company says that in the past 10 months, it has acquired four of the five largest defense contractors as clients.

CEO and co-founder Cameron McCord (pictured) is a veteran of the US Navy and an Anduril alum, a defense company, which is also one of Nominal’s marquee clients. So perhaps it’s no surprise that Anduril co-founder and executive chairman Trae Stephens, who is also a Founders Fund partner, spearheaded this as the first partnership, McCord told Bloomberg. Sequoia, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, Red Glass, and Lightspeed also participated.

Next, Nominal plans to expand beyond security expertise and into the automotive, robotics, and other industries.