C

CADDi

eCommerce & Marketplaces · Chicago, United States · Founded 2017

CADDi is a technology company that provides an AI-powered data platform for the manufacturing industry, aimed at optimizing procurement and supply chain operations. Founded in November 2017 by Yushiro Kato and Aki Kobashi, the company has headquarters in Tokyo and Chicago. Kato, the CEO, has a background as a co-leader in the manufacturing sector at McKinsey & Company, while CTO Kobashi previously worked as an engineer at Apple on products like the iPhone and Airpods, and at Lockheed Martin on data processing systems. The founders' experience on factory floors revealed how valuable engineering expertise was often scattered and unutilized, which led to the creation of CADDi to centralize and analyze this knowledge. The company initially operated as a tech-driven manufacturing marketplace for custom parts before shifting its focus to a SaaS model three years ago. Its core offerings are now 'CADDi Drawer', an AI-powered drawing management system, and 'CADDi Quote', a transformative quoting solution. CADDi Drawer digitizes and analyzes vast archives of 2D and 3D technical drawings, including handwritten documents from decades ago, using proprietary AI and OCR technology. This allows engineers and procurement managers to instantly search for historical drawings by keyword, shape similarity, or image, reducing search times from hours to seconds. The platform extracts features, dimensions, and text from drawings and links them to supply chain data from ERP and PLM systems, creating a centralized knowledge base. CADDi's platform enables clients, which include major manufacturers like Hitachi, Subaru, and Kawasaki, to reduce procurement costs, consolidate suppliers, and make data-driven sourcing decisions. By identifying similar or identical parts across different projects and suppliers, the system helps avoid duplicative work and price inconsistencies. The 'CADDi Quote' tool further enhances this by automating pricing suggestions and allowing procurement teams to compare all quotes in one place. The company serves high-mix-low-volume manufacturers in sectors such as industrial machinery, automotive, and MedTech. Since its inception, CADDi has raised a total of $202 million in funding. A Series C round in July 2023 brought in $89 million, followed by a $38 million Series C extension in March 2025, valuing the company at $470 million. These funds are being used to fuel global expansion, particularly in the U.S. and Europe, and to double its software engineering team. The company aims to reach $1 billion in software revenue by 2030. Keywords: manufacturing AI, procurement optimization, supply chain management, drawing management software, digital transformation, cost reduction, supplier consolidation, value analysis, data platform, AI-powered quoting, engineering data, parts procurement, technical drawing analysis, similarity search, optical character recognition, industrial machinery, automotive manufacturing, high-mix-low-volume, SaaS, enterprise software