AlphaSTAR

What AlphaSTAR does

AlphaSTAR Corporation is a privately held, women-owned engineering software company headquartered in Irvine, California (founded 1989, 11-50 employees), specializing in physics-based Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) simulation. Its product portfolio centers on three core tools: MCQ for material characterization and qualification, GENOA MS-PFA for multi-scale progressive failure analysis of composite structures, and GENOA 3DP for additive manufacturing build simulation, with a Toolpath Simulator sub-product embedded inside Stratasys' GrabCAD Print Pro. The software predicts residual stress, deformation, damage initiation, and crack growth at macro, micro, and nano scales, and is validated against NASA standards and 150+ tutorial/test examples accumulated over 30+ years of R&D.

The company generates revenue through enterprise software licensing (quote-based, annual billing), professional engineering services (defect assessment, certification by analysis, structural health monitoring), and technology-partner royalties where its simulation tools are embedded inside Siemens Simcenter/NX, Ansys Workbench, Stratasys GrabCAD Print Pro, MSC, Altair, and Hexagon platforms. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales augmented by regional channel partners in the US, Canada, Korea, Japan, UAE, and India, with active participation in RAPID+TCT, AMUG, ICAM, SAMPE, MILAM, and JEC World to generate leads. Primary customers are aerospace and defense primes and agencies (Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, NAVAIR, NASA, Hindustan Aeronautics), automotive OEMs (Toyota, Local Motors), national labs (Oak Ridge, PARC), and research institutions (University of Maine, USC, University of Michigan, Wichita State NIAR).

Name

AlphaSTAR

Legal name

AlphaSTAR Corporation

Website

https://alphastarcorp.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

AlphaSTAR Corporation is a privately held, physics-based ICME simulation software company (founded 1989, 11-50 employees) that sells GENOA 3DP, GENOA MS-PFA, and MCQ tools to aerospace, defense, automotive, and energy enterprises for additive manufacturing build simulation and multi-scale progressive failure analysis of composites.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Engineering Simulation Software

NAICS

Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing (33641), Other Aircraft Parts and Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing (336413), Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing (33451)

SIC

Aircraft & Parts (3720)

akta.pro primary industry

AM Simulation (Process, Thermal, Distortion, Support) (IMAAACAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

3D Design & CAD for Additive Manufacturing (IMAAACAA), Composite Structures & Layup Manufacturing (IMABAEAB), Process & Application Development (DfAM, Parameter Development) (IMAAAJAF)

Keywords

• Additive manufacturing simulation
• Multi-scale progressive failure analysis
• Material characterization software
• ICME engineering software
• Composite durability simulation

Headquarters

HQ city

Long Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Software Licenses and Subscriptions: AlphaSTAR generates revenue primarily through licensing its simulation software tools including GENOA 3DP, GENOA MS-PFA, and MCQ. The company offers its software to engineering departments through direct sales and channel partners globally.
2. Professional Services: AlphaSTAR provides engineering services including defect assessment, material modeling, certification by analysis, AM simulation, structural health monitoring, and R&D services. These are billed as consulting engagements alongside or independent of software licensing.
3. Technology Partnerships and OEM Embedding: Revenue generated through technology partnerships where AlphaSTAR's simulation capabilities are embedded into third-party platforms (Siemens, Ansys, Stratasys), potentially through licensing fees or revenue-sharing arrangements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

AlphaSTAR develops and licenses physics-based simulation software for advanced materials and additive manufacturing. Its core products include GENOA 3DP (additive manufacturing build simulation for polymers and metals, predicting residual stress, deformation, and damage), GENOA MS-PFA (multi-scale progressive failure analysis for composite structures), and MCQ (material characterization and qualification for finite element analysis). These tools enable engineering organizations in aerospace, defense, automotive, and energy industries to virtually qualify parts, predict defects, and generate material allowables before physical production.

Product overview

AlphaSTAR offers a suite of physics-based simulation tools grounded in over 30 years of Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) research. The product portfolio centers on three core products: MCQ for material characterization and qualification, GENOA MS-PFA for multi-scale progressive failure analysis of composite structures, and GENOA 3DP for additive manufacturing build simulation. These products are designed as both stand-alone tools and as extensions to traditional FEA packages (ANSYS, Siemens, LS-DYNA, MSC, Altair). The software enables physics-based simulation spanning from material characterization through build simulation to in-service qualification, serving aerospace, automotive, defense, energy, and discrete manufacturing industries. The ICME approach bridges material science and finite element analysis, making digital twin technology a reality for predicting material behavior, as-built part quality, and performance from powder to finished part.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• GENOA 3DP Additive Manufacturing simulation tool that simulates the 3D printing process to accurately predict net shape, residual stress, deformation, damage initiation, and propagation of as-built AM parts for polymers and metals. Uses multi-scale progressive failure analysis to replicate the entire AM lifecycle from material characterization through process simulation to in-service qualification; supports powder bed fusion and material extrusion methods and integrates with major FEA platforms.
• GENOA MS-PFA Durability and damage tolerance software providing predictive computational technology for multi-scale progressive failure analysis of composite materials and structures. Assesses failure at macro, micro, and nano levels under static, fatigue, impact, and environmental loadings and integrates damage initiation, material degradation, and fracture evolution until final failure.
• MCQ Material characterization and qualification software providing advanced analytical capabilities to characterize and qualify material properties as input for finite element analysis. Addresses continuous fiber, discontinuous fiber, ceramic matrix, metal matrix, and hybrid systems through reverse engineering of constituent properties, with dedicated modules MCQ Composites, MCQ Chopped, MCQ Ceramics, MCQ Metals, and MCQ Nano.
• Toolpath Simulator for Stratasys GrabCAD Print Pro Standalone build-readiness plug-in for polymer AM that addresses thermal dynamic elements of the 3D printing process. Available as a plug-in to Stratasys GrabCAD Print Pro, predicting potential air gaps and running thermal process simulation so that operators can identify good or bad parts prior to submitting build jobs.

Quantifiable outcome

• AlphaSTAR and Oak Ridge National Laboratory were jointly given an R&D 100 award for contribution to simulation technology with additive manufacturing
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

29 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and regional.

• StratasyscoreTechnology or Integration · 31 May 2023AlphaSTAR partnered with Stratasys to offer its Toolpath Simulator as a plug-in to Stratasys' GrabCAD Print Pro platform. The integration enables Stratasys customers to predict potential air gaps and run thermal process simulation within the GrabCAD Print Pro workflow, identifying good or bad parts before submitting the build job.
• Siemens Digital Industries SoftwarecoreTechnology or Integration · 9 November 2022AlphaSTAR joined Siemens' Partner Program, integrating its Genoa 3DP polymer AM simulation products with Siemens' Simcenter 3D software and NX additive manufacturing products. This enables Siemens customers to access AlphaSTAR's physics-based simulation and materials modeling within the Simcenter platform.
• EnginSoftcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 June 2022AlphaSTAR's EMEA partner EnginSoft joined the BioniCast project alongside AlphaSTAR. EnginSoft provides subject matter expertise for the novel program investigating hybrid manufacturing combining conventional die casting with LPBF additive manufacturing for electric engine housing with cooling channels.
• Fraunhofer IAPT and Fraunhofer IFAMcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 June 2022Led by Fraunhofer IAPT and Fraunhofer IFAM, the BioniCast project investigates combining conventional manufacturing techniques (LPBF and die casting) with AM for bionic design of an electric engine housing with cooling channels. AlphaSTAR's GENOA 3DP is used for LPBF simulation and process optimization.
• GE ResearchmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 January 2022AlphaSTAR collaborates with GE Research on DoD Phase II Grain Boundary Engineering for Additive Manufacturing program. GE Research serves as the hub of innovation, contributing to the development of technologies to predetermine microstructure of AM metal parts with optimal grain boundaries.
• University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi Center for Advanced ManufacturingcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 January 2022AlphaSTAR collaborates with USC Viterbi on Grain Boundary Engineering for Additive Manufacturing program, focusing on improving mechanical properties and structural performance of AM fabricated metal parts.
• University of Michigan Aerospace EngineeringcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 January 2022AlphaSTAR collaborates with University of Michigan Aerospace Engineering on the Grain Boundary Engineering for AM program to establish material performance screening, selection, and improvement of AM-driven legacy parts for DoD.
• Quadrus CorporationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 January 2022Part of the DoD Phase II Grain Boundary Engineering for Additive Manufacturing program team, contributing to development of technologies for AM part quality and reliability.
• Northrop Grumman Aerospace SystemsmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 September 2021AlphaSTAR and Northrop Grumman collaborated on Thermo-Mechanical Analysis, Process Simulation and Allowable Generation of FDM Printed ULTEM 9085 to assess macro defects, deformations, and residual stress during and after the print process.
• University of MainecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 July 2021University partnership focused on virtual additive manufacturing technology. Professor Masoud Rais-Rohani uses GENOA 3DP to model extrusion-based additive manufacturing processes for interaction between materials and additive processes.
• University of Tennessee KnoxvillecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 July 2021Partnership with University of Tennessee focused on modeling of composite materials, evaluating physicochemical interaction at the intermolecular level of thermoplastic and thermoset polyurethane through surface and thermal characterization using AlphaSTAR's simulation software.
• Wichita State University - National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 July 2021NIAR partnership applying AlphaSTAR's family of tools for advanced composite modeling to augment existing virtual engineering and testing laboratories.
• NCDMM (National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 April 2021AlphaSTAR joined as an Alliance Partner to NCDMM, which supports the DoD's transformation to more cost-effective, sustainable, and maintainable weapons systems through advanced manufacturing and machining techniques. AlphaSTAR contributes its ICME-based material modeling and process simulation toolsets.
• PARC (Palo Alto Research Center)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 October 2020PARC, a Xerox Company, selected AlphaSTAR's GENOA 3DP for ARPA-E's DIFFERENTIATE Program focused on rapid design and improvement of 3D printed parts for turbomachinery applications. Combines AlphaSTAR's predictive simulation technology with PARC's topology optimization software.
• General Electric Global Research CentermajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 July 2020Part of the DLA Grain Boundary Engineering program, GE GRC collaborates with AlphaSTAR on improving mechanical properties and structural performance of AM fabricated metal parts through Grain Boundary Engineering methodologies.
• RaytheonmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 February 2019Collaborating on a Missile Defense Agency Phase II contract, AlphaSTAR and Raytheon used GENOA 3DP to predict the AM process and service loading of an as-built 3D printed missile part. The team set out to hash out part issues before printing, saving time, lowering risk, and reducing scrap rate.
• IRT Jules VernemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 January 2019IRT Jules Verne, a mutualized industrial research institute in France dedicated to advanced manufacturing technologies, selected GENOA 3DP to model and simulate AM processes for composite SLS and FFF printing methods. Part of collaborative research in aeronautics, automotive, energy, and naval sectors.
• Qantur TechnologiescoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 13 March 2018Value added reseller agreement enabling Qantur to resell AlphaSTAR's GENOA and MCQ simulation toolsets in UAE and India. Qantur was founded by experienced engineering professionals passionate about providing innovative solutions for simulation end users across industry sectors.
• ETA (Engineering Technologies Associates)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 12 October 2017Value added reseller agreement enabling ETA to resell AlphaSTAR's GENOA and MCQ tools to automotive product development organizations. ETA serves large automotive OEMs and suppliers, addressing light-weighting challenges with accurate simulation tools for composite materials.
• America MakesmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 June 2017AlphaSTAR holds Platinum Membership with America Makes, the national accelerator for additive manufacturing and first Institute within the Manufacturing USA infrastructure. The full suite of GENOA and MCQ software is available at America Makes headquarters in Youngstown, Ohio for industry leaders and engineers to evaluate.
• ANSYScoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology partner with GENOA 3DP fully integrated into Ansys Workbench. Users can import G-Code, generate structural mesh, run analysis, and optimize AM builds within the Ansys environment.
• DS SIMULIAcoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology partner listed among AlphaSTAR's solution providers, integrating with SIMULIA's simulation portfolio.
• MSC SoftwarecoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology partner integrating AlphaSTAR's simulation tools within MSC Software's platform.
• AltaircoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology partner integrating AlphaSTAR's tools within Altair's simulation ecosystem.
• HexagoncoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology partner integrating AlphaSTAR's simulation tools within Hexagon's manufacturing intelligence portfolio.
• MVT (MVT Software)regionalChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional channel partner for AlphaSTAR software, listed on the channel partners page.
• MAXOFTregionalChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional channel partner for AlphaSTAR software in Korea.
• ADTECHregionalChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional channel partner for AlphaSTAR software in Japan.
• Maya HTTregionalChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRegional channel partner for AlphaSTAR software in Canada.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• ANSYS: ANSYS is the dominant broad CAE platform and directly integrates AlphaSTAR's GENOA 3DP into ANSYS Workbench. It is highly comparable as both a collaboration partner and the principal competitor in AM and composite simulation that AlphaSTAR must win against.
• Siemens Digital Industries Software (Simcenter): Siemens' Simcenter 3D and NX AM host AlphaSTAR's GENOA 3DP as a partner solution. Comparable as both a technology partner and a large incumbent pursuing physics-based manufacturing simulation, composite qualification, and digital twins.
• Dassault Systèmes (3DEXPERIENCE / SIMULIA): Dassault's 3DEXPERIENCE and SIMULIA portfolios target structural simulation, composites, and additive manufacturing workflows. They are a comparable broad incumbent seeking the same aerospace/defense customer wallet for digital-twin and AM simulation.
• Altair Engineering: Altair offers simulation and optimization tools integrated with AlphaSTAR's stack and competes for structural and composite analysis workloads in aerospace and automotive, making it a directly relevant incumbent competitor.
• Hexagon (MSC Software): Hexagon's MSC Software unit provides structural CAE widely used in aerospace and defense. It is both a technology integration partner and a direct competitor for the same structural and AM simulation budget AlphaSTAR pursues.
• Autodesk (Fusion 360 / Netfabb): Autodesk's Netfabb and Fusion 360 offerings provide AM build preparation and some simulation features. Comparable as a larger incumbent platform seeking AM workflow consolidation, including partners like Stratasys that overlap with AlphaSTAR's distribution.

Direct peers

• ESI Group: ESI provides virtual prototyping, composite manufacturing simulation, and welding/casting process modeling that closely parallels AlphaSTAR's GENOA MS-PFA and material characterization capabilities for aerospace and automotive customers.
• COMSOL: COMSOL provides multiphysics simulation used alongside or in place of AlphaSTAR's tools for thermal, structural, and AM-related analyses in engineering and academic settings, making it a directly comparable specialist CAE vendor.
• Materialise (Magics / Streamics): Materialise offers AM build preparation and process software (Magics, Streamics) used by service bureaus and OEMs. It targets overlapping AM workflow and simulation buyers, including Stratasys ecosystem users.

Emerging players

• Beta CAE Systems: Beta CAE provides pre/post-processing and simulation data management used in structural and manufacturing analysis. It is comparable to AlphaSTAR as an adjacent specialist CAE vendor serving similar aerospace and automotive engineering teams.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/AlphaStarCorporation
• Facebookfacebook.com/alphastarcorp
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/alpha-star-corporation
• Xtwitter.com/AlphaSTAR_Corp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 AlphaSTAR