What OCTO does

OCTO Product Development Inc. is a privately held design consultancy founded in 2009 and operating from Providence, Rhode Island, with a European office in Lyon, France. The firm provides strategy, product design, and experience design services — including industrial design, UX/UI design, software development, and brand experience — to a mix of enterprise clients and startups across health tech, industrial technology, aerospace and defense, consumer products, luxury goods, energy, and government. Notable named clients include Collins Aerospace, Hexagon, Cartier, Leica Geosystems, Bose, Samsung, Google, Schneider, Hayward, Dorel, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, the Dubai Future Foundation, and the Singapore Economic Development Board.

The firm's core methodology is a "systems thinking" approach that integrates design with business strategy, delivered by a multidisciplinary team of strategists, designers, and technologists. Notable client-specific solutions include Galley.ai (an AI-powered aircraft cabin crew service system for Collins Aerospace, 2025 Crystal Cabin Award winner), Havoc Control (autonomous maritime drone management for Havoc AI), Karman (AI-driven grid edge software for Utilidata), the Caregiver's App for Plans4Care, and the Seaglider Navigation UI for Regent Craft. In August 2024, the firm formally launched a dedicated Health Tech Practice, and in February 2025 deepened its long-standing partnership with NEMIC. The firm also publishes an annual proprietary research franchise (Economics of Design / UX Outlook) and produces the "Beyond Innovation" podcast.

OCTO generates revenue through project-based professional services engagements sold via direct enterprise field sales, with quote-based pricing and multi-year contracts; no public pricing exists. The company is founder-owned, led by CEO/Founder Justin Sirotin alongside a President of EU operations and a CFO, with no external funding, no subsidiaries, and no disclosed patents. The 2020 spin-off of cycling brand Route Werks illustrates an internal incubation pathway. With 11-50 employees, the firm is a small, high-touch consultancy whose value proposition rests on the caliber of its client roster and cross-disciplinary design talent.

Name

OCTO

Legal name

OCTO Product Development Inc.

Website

https://octopd.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

OCTO is a privately held, dual-office (Providence, RI and Lyon, France) design consultancy providing strategy, product design, and experience design services to enterprise and startup clients across health tech, aerospace, defense, consumer, and government sectors. Founded in 2009, it serves clients such as Collins Aerospace, Hexagon, and Cartier.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Pawtucket

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Professional Design Services: OCTO generates revenue through consulting engagements with enterprise and startup clients, providing strategy, product development, UX/UI design, industrial design, and brand experience services on a project basis.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

OCTO is a design and product development consultancy that provides Strategy Services, Product Design Services (industrial design, UX/UI, and software development), and Experience Design Services (brand experiences across physical and digital touchpoints). The firm operates dedicated practices in Health Tech, Energy Tech, Industrial, and Consumer sectors, delivering named client solutions such as Galley.ai, Havoc Control, the Caregiver's App, and various AR and industrial products, alongside annual proprietary design research reports.

Product overview

OCTO is a global design and product development consultancy offering strategy, product design, and experience design services through a portfolio of case studies rather than a unified software platform. The company's offerings include Strategy Services, Product Design Services (encompassing industrial design, UI/UX, and development), and Experience Design Services. Notable client-specific solutions include Galley.ai (AI-powered aircraft cabin system), Havoc Control (autonomous drone management platform), the Caregiver's App (dementia care digital platform), Karman grid edge software, and various AR, navigation UI, and industrial design projects. OCTO also publishes annual research reports on design economics and UX trends. The company operates across offices in Providence, RI and Lyon, France, serving clients in health tech, industrial tech, consumer products, and government sectors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Beyond Innovation Podcast: OCTO's podcast featuring episodes on topics including product development, storytelling, organizational dynamics, and innovation.
• Health Tech Practice
• The Economics of UX in an AI-Driven World: 2026 Outlook
• Economics of Design

Products and services

• Strategy Services Strategic consulting services that help clients connect technology to business outcomes across customers, partners, and stakeholders. Offered to enterprise and startup clients as a standalone service line.
• Product Design Services Product design services connecting technology to user needs to drive demand through desirability, spanning industrial design, UI/UX design, and software development for enterprise and startup clients.
• Experience Design Services Brand experience design services that build immersive customer experiences across physical and digital touchpoints, delivered as a standalone service line for enterprise and startup clients.
• Health Tech Practice Dedicated health technology design practice offering service design, product design, human factors engineering, and regulatory-compliant prototype development for med tech and healthcare clients. Launched formally in August 2024 building on 20+ years of healthcare and medical device experience.
• Galley.ai AI-powered crew service system for aircraft cabin environments, integrating personalization, operational efficiency, and sustainability into next-generation passenger and crew experiences; developed for Collins Aerospace.
• Havoc Control High-performance autonomous drone control platform for managing hundreds of maritime drones in mission-critical defense environments; developed for Havoc AI.
• Augmented Reality Software AR storytelling solution for Leica Geosystems using augmented reality tables to visualize construction processes and digital twins at trade exhibitions; AR table experience for construction technology storytelling at ConExpo.
• Health Tech Service Design and Prototyping Service design, product design, human factors engineering, and regulatory-compliant prototype development offerings within OCTO's Health Tech Practice, for med tech and healthcare clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• Helped startups raise over $200M in funding
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NEMIC (New England Medical Innovation Center)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 February 2025OCTO became a NEMIC Corporate Member and CEO Justin Sirotin joined NEMIC's Expert Advisory Group. The partnership supports health tech startups by connecting them to OCTO's design expertise and local support network. NEMIC has served 460+ startups and cohort fellows have raised over $114M.
• Big Dreams StudiocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration partner on concept design and development projects, particularly for experiences like Galley.ai with Collins Aerospace. Big Dreams focused on concept design while OCTO handled end-to-end development.
• TellartminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrequent partner for experiential design projects including The Coffee Connector with Singapore EDB and Museum of the Future with Dubai Government.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Teague: Industrial and product design consultancy with deep aerospace and transportation expertise. Highly comparable to OCTO given shared aerospace clients (Collins Aerospace adjacency) and industrial design capability.
• Pentagram: Multi-disciplinary design consultancy offering strategy, branding, and product design. Comparable to OCTO in providing integrated design services to enterprise and luxury clients (overlap with Cartier-tier brands).
• Smart Design: Strategic design consultancy combining brand, product, and experience design for global brands. Comparable to OCTO in scope of services and emphasis on measurable business outcomes from design.
• Frog Design: Product design and innovation consultancy (part of Capgemini Invent) serving enterprise clients across consumer, industrial, and healthcare. Comparable to OCTO in delivering integrated strategy, design, and software engineering engagements.
• Bresslergroup: Product design and engineering consultancy with strong medtech and consumer electronics practices. Comparable to OCTO in blending industrial design, UX, and engineering for regulated and consumer clients.
• IDEO: Globally recognized design and innovation consultancy offering strategy, product design, and brand experience services to enterprise and startup clients. Closest comparable in mission, multi-disciplinary model, and client profile to OCTO.
• Ammunition Group: Independent design and brand consultancy offering product design, brand identity, and experience design for premium consumer and tech clients. Comparable to OCTO in boutique scale and design-led multi-disciplinary approach.
• Work & Co: Digital product and experience design agency known for strategy, UX, and software delivery for enterprise and consumer brands. Comparable to OCTO in its integrated design-plus-development model and enterprise client base.

Broad incumbents

• Huge: Large digital experience agency (part of Havas) offering strategy, branding, and product design. Comparable to OCTO in digital experience work but with materially larger headcount and global footprint.
• Lunar (McKinsey Design): Design and innovation consultancy, now part of McKinsey's design practice, serving enterprise clients with strategy-to-product engagements. Comparable to OCTO in service mix but with substantially larger scale and resources.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles15 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 OCTO