Harmoni Raises $10M to Retrofit Legacy US Factories with AI

Betting on America's existing manufacturing base

Harmoni has closed a $10 million Series A funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners to bring artificial intelligence tools to the roughly 280,000 traditional factories operating across the United States. The company, founded in 2023, currently serves around 40 customers concentrated in aerospace and defense sectors, with plans to add 10 more this month, according to details shared exclusively with Business Insider.

The investment positions Harmoni against a different approach gaining traction in Silicon Valley, where startups like Hadrian and Machina Labs are constructing new facilities designed around robots and automation from the ground up. Cofounders David Caputo and Adam Ellis are instead targeting the vast installed base of conventional manufacturing plants filled with decades-old equipment and human workers.

Why it matters

As the US pursues reindustrialization after years of offshoring, the debate over how to modernize manufacturing has real consequences. Most American factories operate with legacy machinery and fragmented software systems, lacking the resources to rebuild from scratch. Solutions that retrofit existing infrastructure could determine whether these facilities remain competitive or fall further behind highly automated competitors—and whether the estimated 3.8 million manufacturing jobs projected by 2033 get filled or eliminated.

Custom tablets connect old and new systems

Harmoni's core product consists of custom tablets that attach magnetically to factory machines and integrate with equipment ranging from modern systems to machinery built during World War II. Workers use these tablets as a unified interface to clock in, access job instructions, track production, and report maintenance issues.

The company developed its approach after Caputo and Ellis, a longtime manufacturing consultant, repeatedly encountered factories struggling to connect disparate software systems for machine monitoring, worker tracking, maintenance scheduling, and job specifications. Caputo first witnessed the manual nature of factory operations more than a decade ago after leaving investment banking, recalling workers lining up to clock in individually and carrying USB sticks with machine programs.

Shokoufeh Mirzaei, chair and professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering at Cal Poly Pomona, confirmed that many small and midsize US manufacturers lack basic analytics and operate on pre-internet technology. While large companies like Amazon have advanced automation capabilities, most factories run on legacy systems. Manufacturers often resist replacing expensive equipment but remain open to retrofitting existing machines, she noted.

Adding conversational AI to factory floors

Harmoni is now layering artificial intelligence onto its existing platform through a product called HAL. The system leverages data collected from tablets to answer worker questions and execute actions without requiring users to manually provide context about which machine is running or what job is underway.

Workers can ask HAL why a machine is performing below expected speed, request maintenance, or flag issues for the next shift operator. Caputo described this as allowing workers to "literally speak to the machines."

WessDel, a San Jose manufacturer producing precision aerospace and defense components, adopted Harmoni in 2024. Vice President Jeff McKay reported that workers previously spent nearly an hour daily lining up at three separate kiosks to clock in and manually log machine information. With Harmoni's tablets, workers now badge in by tapping ID cards while the system automatically captures machine activity.

Labor shortages versus automation concerns

William Melek, a University of Waterloo engineering professor and director of its RoboHub, said tools like Harmoni's could help address long-term labor shortages. A Deloitte and Manufacturing Institute study projects US manufacturers may need 3.8 million additional workers by 2033, with roughly half those positions potentially going unfilled. However, Melek cautioned that technologies automating factory work could face union resistance over job displacement.

Caputo emphasized that Harmoni targets factories that will continue relying on human workers, aiming to eliminate repetitive administrative tasks rather than reduce headcount. Many of the company's customers already face difficulty recruiting sufficient workers, he added.

While some envision factory floors eventually staffed by humanoid robots, Caputo believes that future remains distant. If it arrives, he suggested Harmoni's system could coordinate robotic workers as well. "The technology is just not there yet," he said.

These details were first reported by Business Insider.