Speeding Up Engineering with AI: The Big Bet on Rescale

Big names in tech are placing their chips on Rescale, a startup that's making waves in the engineering world. This company is all about using cloud computing to speed up complex simulations and calculations. They just secured $115 million in funding, bringing their total raised to over $260 million. Investors like Applied Ventures, Foxconn, and Nvidia are backing them, showing confidence in Rescale's vision. Rescale's journey began over two decades ago when its founders were working on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. They faced a major hurdle: not enough computing power to run the necessary simulations for the aircraft's innovative carbon fiber design. This experience sparked the idea for Rescale. The founders wanted to create a platform that would make engineering tasks more efficient. The company is pioneering something called "AI physics. " This involves training AI models on simulation data to speed up computational engineering. While traditional methods can take days, AI models can deliver results in seconds. This acceleration allows engineers to explore more design possibilities much faster. Rescale's technology isn't just about speed. It also includes a "compute recommendation engine" that optimizes workloads across different cloud architectures in real-time. This engine supports a vast number of applications and configurations, making it a versatile tool for various industries. The startup is focusing on three key areas: expanding its application library, establishing unified data management, and integrating AI for faster engineering. They aim to create an intelligent data layer, often referred to as the digital thread, to track data throughout the product lifecycle. This could revolutionize how engineering knowledge is captured and applied. Rescale's approach to AI is practical and customer-centric. They are focused on solving concrete problems with immediate returns on investment. The company is also positioning itself to help customers navigate geopolitical tensions and shifting supply chains by working with sovereign clouds. The engineering world is on the cusp of a cloud transition, and Rescale is at the forefront. With less than 20% of high-performance computing currently in the cloud, there's significant room for growth. Rescale's AI physics approach could transform product design across industries, making it faster, cheaper, and more efficient.