8VC leads $27M Series B as Flux crosses 1M sign-ups
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Flux, the AI-powered platform for hardware design, today announced $37M of new investment, including a $27M Series B led by 8VC, with participation from existing investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Outsiders Fund.
Flux also disclosed a previously unannounced $10M Series A led by Outsiders Fund and co-led by Bain Capital Ventures.
It’s yet more fuel for the Silicon Valley startup leading a grassroots revolution in hardware design.
Flux is the world’s first AI hardware engineer, trained on hundreds of thousands of real-world designs and fine-tuned for common design tasks. With nothing more than natural language prompts, Flux’s agentic AI works with users to plan circuit-board layouts, source components, and test designs. It outputs everything a manufacturer needs to produce a finished product. It even suggests ways to minimize costs and reduce supply-chain risks.
And it does all this in the web browser—no desktop application required.
“With Flux, you can have a brilliant idea one day and hold the finished product in your hand a few weeks later,” said Flux CEO Matthias Wagner.
More than 1 million makers, designers, and entrepreneurs have used Flux to design nearly 6.5 million devices, from wearables to robots to smart home controllers and drone navigation systems.
One Flux customer built an IoT device that extracts data from construction machinery, taking the entire project from concept to production without hiring an electrical engineer.
Another is using Flux to design and ship custom electronics throughout Africa.
Yet another uses Flux to build IoT-enabled organ-on-chip platforms for drug discovery and biological barrier modeling.
With Flux, anyone can become a builder. In the past, designers had two options: They could hire electrical engineers to design PCB boards from scratch or buy OEM components off the shelf. But many smaller businesses can’t afford to hire, and don’t want to pay for OEM parts that do more than they need.
Flux gives them a third option: AI that delivers bespoke PCBs at near-material costs. Flux’s custom layouts reduce the need for complex multi-board integration, resulting in faster, cheaper production and easier maintenance in the field.
“We wrote Flux’s first check when they were only a few founders with an audacious vision to transform hardware design,” said 8VC partner Francisco Gimenez. “Seven years later, they’re redefining who can build electronic hardware. Their market is not simply electrical engineers designing PCBs. It’s the universe of makers from individuals to businesses to whole industries. We’re privileged to renew our support.”
Flux plans to use the new funding to extend its AI to even more complex electronic use cases.
“Historically, building hardware has been insanely difficult,” said Flux CEO Wagner. “When you’re working with atoms instead of electrons, everything costs more and takes longer. Those limitations have always kept hardware in the hands of an elite few. By bringing the cost of design down to near-zero, we’re giving millions of non-experts the ability to build for niche audiences—or make something for themselves. The electronics business has always been structured around giant manufacturers. Now, for the first time, Flux puts creators at the center.”
About Flux:
Flux is the AI hardware engineer—a new kind of AI agent that goes from text prompt to manufactured board in a single browser tab. Flux is leading a paradigm shift in hardware design with its end-to-end, eCAD environment, which includes integrated workflows, reusable blocks, and modern collaboration tools. Headquartered in San Francisco, Flux is backed by investors including 8VC, Bain Capital Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, and Outsiders Fund, along with Figma board member John Lilly and Github founder Tom Preston-Werner.
Media contact:
Meghana Patnana
Firebrand Communications for Flux
flux@firebrand.marketing
415-848-9175
