What Quilter does

Quilter is a Los Angeles-based AI company founded in 2019 by Sergiy Nesterenko, a former SpaceX senior avionics engineer, to automate the manual bottleneck of printed circuit board (PCB) layout. The company's product is a physics-driven AI platform that uses reinforcement learning — trained on millions of synthetic boards against the laws of physics rather than on customer data — to ingest schematic and board-outline inputs and produce multiple ranked, fabrication-ready layout candidates in hours rather than weeks. Distinctive technical capabilities include automated power pour generation, automated bypass capacitor placement, automatic differential pair routing, and a proprietary Physics Rule Checks (PRC) framework that validates every layout candidate against electrical, thermal, and signal-integrity constraints. The platform accepts native project files from all four major EDA toolchains (Altium, Cadence, Siemens, KiCad) and returns output in the same format, positioning Quilter as a complement — not a replacement — to incumbent CAD workflows. Cloud delivery is paired with a self-hosted deployment option for regulated industries.

Quilter serves a primarily enterprise customer base across aerospace & defense, consumer electronics, robotics, semiconductors, and automotive (OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers), with disclosed Fortune 500 customers in aerospace, defense, and consumer electronics whose combined market capitalization exceeds $500 billion. End-user personas include R&D managers, PCB designers, and electrical engineers who use Quilter to compress board bring-up cycles — for example, IC evaluation boards laid out in hours, test fixtures and harnesses shaved of 4-6 weeks, and backplane/interconnect boards delivered in under 24 hours. Go-to-market is hybrid: a product-led self-serve motion via a free tier, a Startup program, and direct website purchase (pricing scaled by pin count rather than seats) layered with a sales-assisted enterprise motion including "Talk to an Engineer" / "Get a Demo" CTAs. The company has raised $40 million in disclosed outside funding ($10M Series A from Benchmark/Coatue in February 2024, $25M Series B from Index Ventures in October 2025) and achieved SOC 2 Type II compliance in March 2026. Strategic industry partnerships include AWS, NVIDIA, and Siemens as Trusted Industry Partners, with Sierra Circuits as the manufacturing partner for the flagship Project Speedrun demonstration.

Name

Quilter

Legal name

Quilter AI

Website

https://quilter.ai

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Quilter develops physics-driven AI software that automates printed circuit board (PCB) layout, using reinforcement learning trained on synthetic physics simulations to generate fabrication-ready board designs in hours. It serves Fortune 500 aerospace, defense, consumer electronics, automotive, and semiconductor firms alongside a long tail of individual engineers and startups.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Software

NAICS

Computer Systems Design Services (541512), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)

akta.pro primary industry

AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs) (HDAEANAJ)

Keywords

• AI PCB design
• Electronic design automation
• PCB layout software
• Physics-based AI
• Circuit board automation

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Quilter SaaS Platform Subscriptions: Tiered subscription offering (Free, Startup, Enterprise) priced by pin count rather than seats. Free tier provides entry-level access; Startup tier targets emerging hardware companies; Enterprise tier serves Fortune 500 aerospace, defense, automotive, and consumer electronics customers with premium support and self-hosted deployment options.
2. Usage-Based Consumption Pricing: Usage-based pricing model referenced as alternative to subscription, scaling with the computational and design volume (pin count, job complexity) consumed on the platform.
3. Freemium Conversion Funnel: Free tier with 'Quilter for Free' offering allows engineers to submit design jobs and validate the platform with no initial spend, designed to convert to paid Startup or Enterprise plans once value is demonstrated.
4. Enterprise Professional Services & Self-Hosted Licensing: Enterprise tier includes premium, proactive support engineered for high-stakes PCB development environments, plus optional self-hosted deployment for regulated industries that require on-premises data residency.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Quilter develops a physics-driven AI platform that automates PCB (printed circuit board) placement and routing. Engineers upload schematic and board-outline files from Altium, Cadence, Siemens EDA, or KiCad and receive multiple ranked, fabrication-ready layout candidates in hours rather than weeks. The platform uses reinforcement learning trained on millions of synthetic boards against the laws of physics, with Physics Rule Checks validating every trace, and is delivered as a cloud SaaS application with an optional self-hosted enterprise deployment.

Product overview

Quilter is a unified, physics-driven AI platform (single product brand) for automating PCB layout. The core offering is the Quilter web app (app.quilter.ai), where users upload schematic and board files in Altium, Cadence, Siemens, or KiCad formats and receive ranked, fabrication-ready layout candidates. Built on top of the core engine are distinctive capabilities including Physics Rule Checks (PRCs), Automated Power Pours, Automatic Bypass Capacitor Placement, Automatic Differential Pair Routing, and Schematic-Informed Placement. Adjacent offerings include Quilter for Free (a free tier), Quilter for Startups (a startup program), Fab for Free (a fabrication program), and reference Workbench projects (Quiltuino Uno, Qstache, Qplayer, Qmotor, QSP32, Qpico) that showcase the platform. The company's flagship demonstration, Project Speedrun, validated the platform by autonomously designing a complete two-board Linux computer. Underlying deployment options include a cloud SaaS and a self-hosted enterprise deployment.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Quilter PCB Layout Platform Physics-driven AI SaaS platform that automates PCB placement and routing, compressing layout cycles from weeks/months to hours. Generates multiple fabrication-ready candidates in parallel against schematic and physical constraints, with Physics Rule Checks validating every trace. Targets Fortune 500 aerospace, defense, automotive, consumer electronics, and semiconductor firms.
• Quilter Web Application (app.quilter.ai) Browser-based interface where engineers upload CAD projects (Altium, Cadence, Siemens, KiCad), review AI-generated layout candidates, examine Physics Rule Checks, and download finished board files in their original EDA format. Delivered as a cloud SaaS application.
• Quilter for Free Free version of the Quilter AI PCB design platform for engineers who want to try physics-driven AI PCB layout at no cost. Engineers can submit design jobs and validate the platform with no initial spend, with upgrade path to Startup and Enterprise plans.
• Quilter for Startups Startup-tier subscription program offering access to the Quilter physics-driven AI layout platform tailored for early-stage hardware companies, with pricing scaled by pin count rather than seats.
• Quilter Self-Hosted Deployment Enterprise deployment option to run Quilter inside the customer's own infrastructure, giving the customer control over access, networking, and data residency for regulated industries (aerospace, defense) and IP protection.

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability8 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreTechnology or IntegrationListed as a Trusted Industry Partner on Quilter's homepage. Likely provides cloud infrastructure underpinning the cloud-based AI platform for PCB layout (SOC 2 Type II compliant).
• NVIDIAcoreTechnology or IntegrationListed as a Trusted Industry Partner on Quilter's homepage, supporting the GPU-accelerated reinforcement learning workloads underlying Quilter's physics-driven AI platform.
• Siemens (EDA)coreTechnology or IntegrationListed as a Trusted Industry Partner and a supported source CAD format. Quilter accepts Siemens EDA project files as direct input and returns files in the same format for seamless handoff within existing Siemens-based workflows.
• Sierra CircuitscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerManufacturing partner for Project Speedrun; fabricated and assembled both the System-on-Module (SOM) and Baseboard PCBs. Quilter paid standard commercial rates and used Sierra's standard ordering process to demonstrate reproducibility. Sierra's 2 mil HDI line handled the SOM's advanced geometry.
• Remodulate LLC (Brandin Claar)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerExternal consulting partner credited with helping assemble the custom meta-quilter Yocto layer for Project Speedrun firmware development.
• Tony Fadell (Build Collective)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerPublic endorser of Quilter, featured on the homepage with testimonial quote: 'Quilter gives top PCB designers the superpower to turn weeks into days. It's a complete paradigm shift.' Father of the iPod, iPhone co-inventor, and Nest founder.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Cadence Design Systems: Cadence is one of the three dominant EDA incumbents (alongside Synopsys and Siemens EDA) and ships PCB layout tools (Allegro, OrCAD) that Quilter directly integrates with via native file-format support. Cadence's own OrCAD and Fidelity CFD product lines were previously led by Quilter's contracted industry expert Cody Stetzel. As a broad incumbent, Cadence offers overlapping capabilities but as part of a much wider portfolio.
• Synopsys: Synopsys is one of the top-three global EDA vendors, providing IC design, verification, and PCB tools used by the same Fortune 500 aerospace, defense, and semiconductor customers Quilter targets. Synopsys competes broadly in the EDA category and has been adding AI features to its toolchains, making it the most direct incumbent competitive threat to Quilter's AI-native positioning.
• Siemens EDA: Siemens EDA (formerly Mentor Graphics) provides PCB layout tools (PADS, Xpedition) that Quilter natively integrates with as a supported CAD format. Siemens is also listed as a Trusted Industry Partner on Quilter's homepage, indicating a mutual partnership dynamic. As an incumbent, Siemens competes broadly across the EDA stack that Quilter is augmenting with AI.
• Altium: Altium (now owned by Renesas Electronics) is the dominant standalone PCB design tool vendor, with deep penetration into the same engineering customer base Quilter serves. Quilter accepts Altium project files as native input and returns layout output in the same format. Altium's massive installed base of individual PCB designers is the exact audience Quilter targets through its Free tier and self-serve funnel.
• Zuken: Zuken is a long-established EDA vendor specializing in PCB and electrical design tools (CR-8000, CADSTAR), serving automotive, aerospace, and industrial customers that overlap directly with Quilter's vertical targets. As a broad incumbent, Zuken competes in the same Fortune 500 accounts Quilter is pursuing.

Emerging players

• Flux: Flux is an AI-assisted PCB design platform targeting hardware engineers and startups, similar to Quilter's Free and Startup tiers. While Flux focuses on schematic capture with AI assistance, it operates in the same AI-driven electronics design category and competes for the same early-stage hardware startup customer base.
• Celus: Celus is an emerging AI-driven electronic design automation platform that uses AI to automate component selection and schematic generation for PCB design. It competes with Quilter for AI-driven EDA mindshare and addresses adjacent steps in the same electronics design workflow Quilter automates.
• Diagonal AI: Diagonal is an early-stage AI company applying foundation models to engineering design tasks, including electronics and PCB. It represents a potential category competitor applying general-purpose AI to the same design automation problem Quilter is solving with physics-driven reinforcement learning.

Others

• MacroFab: MacroFab is a PCB manufacturing and assembly platform serving hardware startups and enterprise customers in similar verticals to Quilter. While MacroFab operates in fabrication rather than design, both companies serve the same hardware developer customer base and overlap in distribution partnerships (e.g., Sierra Circuits manufactured Project Speedrun boards).
• Concept Engineering: Concept Engineering provides visualization and debugging tools for EDA, including schematic and RTL viewers used alongside PCB design flows. As an ecosystem participant, it sits adjacent to Quilter in the EDA toolchain and addresses complementary design review and verification needs.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/quilterai
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@QuilterAI
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/quilterai

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Quilter