PreScalar, a San Francisco startup that builds testing and data systems for hardware manufacturers, has raised a $7m seed round co-led by Dynamo Ventures and BMW i Ventures. The company announced the funding on 22 October 2026.
Blue Wire Capital, Uplift Ventures and Antler also took part, according to the company's release. PreScalar did not disclose a valuation or say how much it had raised before.
“Hardware has fundamentally changed, but the way we manufacture it hasn't kept up.”Skyler Salman, Co-founder and CEO, PreScalar
What PreScalar does
PreScalar describes itself as a test and data platform for advanced manufacturing. It installs modular test equipment on production lines, along with software that automates testing, manages device firmware and records production data.
The problem it targets is common in factories that build software-heavy products: parts often arrive with out-of-date firmware, which has to be reprogrammed by hand or sent back to the supplier, Tech Funding News reported. PreScalar's stations let manufacturers test, update and track firmware in place. Customers can start with a single station and add more along the line, and the system brings test workflows, firmware management and data collection together in one dataset.
The company is aiming at makers of autonomous vehicles, cars, robots, consumer electronics and defence equipment. It said it works with manufacturers ranging from fast-growing technology companies to large global producers, but did not name any customers.
At Antler's spring 2026 US portfolio showcase, PreScalar said it had won pilot contracts worth more than $100,000 with a leading autonomous vehicle company and an electronics manufacturer, plus a signed agreement to expand, according to Tech Funding News. The outlet listed Instrumental and National Instruments, now part of Emerson, as competitors.
The founders
PreScalar was founded in 2025 by three engineers who all worked at Cruise. Skyler Salman, the chief executive, led testing at Cruise, Rivian, Waymo and Google. Ben Fredrickson, the chief technology officer, built safety-critical software at Cruise, Auris and Remedy Robotics. John Cathcart, the chief operating officer, led product launches at Cruise, Lucid, SF Motors and Chrysler. Tech Funding News reported their titles; the release did not give titles for Fredrickson and Cathcart.
Salman said in the release that the founders built PreScalar because they had lived the problem themselves.
What the money is for
PreScalar said the money will go to research and development, building more of its test hardware, hiring and scaling commercial deployments.
Kasper Sage, a managing partner at BMW i Ventures, said in the release that the best hardware companies are defined by what comes off their production lines. Santosh Sankar, a managing partner at Dynamo Ventures, said the most sophisticated hardware companies have spent years and large sums building this kind of infrastructure themselves. Tech Funding News reported that Sankar described PreScalar as a system that lets manufacturers keep learning from their products in the field and use that to improve how they test and build them.
Tech Funding News cited a McKinsey estimate that the global automotive software and electronics market could reach $519bn by 2035.
Company website: prescalar.ai