The archive · Developer & Business Tools · Product decision · 2025–2026
Adam bets text-to-CAD makes AI the primary way mechanical designs get made
YC W25 startup Adam open-sources CADAM, a text-to-OpenSCAD web app, after $4.1M seed; 1M+ models generated, 215-point Launch HN.
Adam
What the business is
Adam (adam.new) is a San Francisco AI company building agents for mechanical CAD: its flagship app connects to users' CAD, PLM and PDM tools, while CADAM is its open-source text-to-CAD web app that turns natural language into parametric OpenSCAD.
Starting capital：$4.1M seed led by TQ Ventures with 468 Capital, Pioneer, Script Capital, Transpose Platform and angels (announced Oct 2025).
How it started
Adam began as Zach Dive's UC Berkeley thesis: a laptop-hosted app that quickly generated a 3D-printable CAD model. A year later Dive and Aaron Li founded the company to push the research toward professional CAD, went through YC's Winter 2025 batch, and closed a $4.1M seed round led by TQ Ventures in late 2025.
What happened
In June 2026 the company open-sourced CADAM, a browser-based text-to-CAD platform: prompts and image references become parametric OpenSCAD code with sliders for instant dimension tweaks, compiled to WebAssembly entirely in-browser, model-agnostic across Anthropic, Gemini and OpenRouter models. The Launch HN drew 215 points and 97 comments; the founder noted CADAM is community outreach while the flagship OpenCascade-based app — which connects to CAD, PLM and PDM tools — is the revenue driver.
How it ended up
Still running: seed-funded, CADAM open source, flagship enterprise CAD app live.
Background
Adam is a San Francisco startup betting that AI will become the primary medium for creating mechanical designs, the way it already is for software. It was founded on two beliefs: AI-first design, and generating CAD as code — text → code → CAD — rather than as a black-box 3D model.
The company began as Zach Dive's UC Berkeley thesis, a laptop app that turned a prompt into a 3D-printable model. With co-founder Aaron Li he took it through YC's Winter 2025 batch and closed a $4.1M seed round led by TQ Ventures in late 2025; Adam's blog says users have generated over a million 3D models on the platform.
In June 2026 Adam open-sourced CADAM, a browser text-to-CAD tool: natural language and image references become parametric OpenSCAD code with sliders for dimension tweaks, compiled to WebAssembly in-browser and model-agnostic across Claude, Gemini and OpenRouter. The Launch HN on 2026-06-17 drew 215 points and 97 comments, with users printing custom parts within minutes of trying it.
The open-source tool is outreach; the business is the flagship app, an OpenCascade-based agent that connects to professionals' CAD, PLM and PDM tools. As of September 2026 Adam is live and seed-funded, using the round to expand AI and engineering hiring and move from consumer text-to-3D toward enterprise CAD.
What has to be true
- Text-to-code-to-CAD made the model's output inspectable and tweakable, answering the main objection to AI-generated geometry.
- Open-sourcing the demo layer (CADAM) generated HN front-page attention that a closed beta never would.
- The revenue wedge is the enterprise integration — living inside CAD/PLM/PDM — not the free text-to-3D toy.
- Starting from a thesis and a viral consumer app bought time and attention before attacking professional workflows.
What can be applied
Open-source the demo layer, sell the integration: giving CADAM away built trust and HN attention, while the paid product lives inside existing CAD/PLM/PDM tools where professionals actually work.
Aftermath
As of 2026-09-02 Adam is live and seed-funded. CADAM is open source with a browser demo; the flagship app is an OpenCascade-based AI agent that connects to CAD, PLM and PDM tools. The $4.1M seed from TQ Ventures and others is earmarked for AI and engineering hiring, and the stated direction is enterprise-grade CAD that lets mechanical engineers design an order of magnitude faster in the tools they already use.
Sources
- Launch HN: Adam (YC W25) – Open-Source AI CAD
- Announcing Adam's $4.1m seed round, led by TQ Ventures
- Adam Raises $4.1 Million in Seed Round
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