Munich-based Celus, which uses AI to automate the circuit board design process from ideation to PCB, raised a €25M Series A led by Earlybird
Paul Sawers / TechCrunch :
Context & Ripple Effects
Celus's €25M Series A, led by Earlybird, put Munich on the map for AI-driven PCB design back when the category was young — and the funding wave that followed validates the bet. Stockholm-based Encube later emerged from stealth with $23M for AI-powered manufacturability analysis during hardware design, attacking the step just downstream of what Celus automates.
The most direct comparison arrived years after this raise: Flux, an AI platform that also designs PCBs for electronic devices, went on to raise $37M across a Series B and A (Flux's $37M round). Celus's Series A now reads as the early data point in a category that has since attracted multiple nine-figure-adjacent rounds.
First-order effects
- Earlybird's capital lets Celus push its ideation-to-PCB automation deeper into the electronics design workflow, while Flux's later-funded platform becomes its clearest head-to-head rival for the same engineering teams.
Second-order effects
- Encube's manufacturability-analysis tooling sits adjacent to both players, pressuring Celus and Flux to bundle design and manufacturability checks rather than leave that layer to a point solution.
Third-order effects
- With Daedalus applying AI to precision-parts manufacturing on the German factory floor, the pattern points toward an end-to-end AI electronics stack — design tools like Celus converging with automated production rather than handing off at the Gerber file.
The trend: Venture capital is consolidating behind AI platforms that absorb the entire electronics design workflow, from first sketch to manufactured board, with Celus an early marker and Flux and Encube the follow-on wave.