LineWise, a US-based startup developing an AI-powered “virtual engineer” for manufacturers, said it has raised $1.1 million in pre-seed funding from A2D Ventures, Y Combinator and a group of global investors.
The round, which also included Exitfund, REMUS Capital, SBXi Fund and Team Ignite Ventures, will help the company expand in North America and Asia, scale its AI engineering team, and deepen support for defect prevention and troubleshooting.
Factory stoppages can cost manufacturers more than $100,000 per hour, while defects on high-speed production lines create hidden costs by wasting materials, forcing rework and straining downstream processes.
LineWise said its multi-agent AI system acts as a 24/7 engineer, trained on sensor data, event logs and OEM manuals to deliver rapid root-cause analysis and troubleshooting guidance.
The company said it has secured five paid pilots with large manufacturers, including Nasdaq-listed leaders in packaging, food and beverage, and consumer electronics.
Early deployments have shown measurable reductions in downtime and defect-driven yield loss, with returns on investment delivered within weeks.
“LineWise is solving two of the biggest hidden costs in the global economy: downtime and yield loss,” said Ankit Upadhyay, founder and general partner at A2D Ventures. He added:
Their AI-powered virtual engineer delivers immediate ROI by helping factories troubleshoot defects faster, prevent rework, and keep production online.
“Every minute of uptime and every defect-free unit matters,” said LineWise co-founder and chief executive Tanachart (James) Kujareevanich. “With this funding, we’re scaling our platform so every factory has a 24/7 AI engineer—cutting losses, protecting yields, and freeing teams to focus on innovation instead of firefighting.”
LineWise was founded by Kujareevanich, an MIT MBA and former McKinsey consultant; Zhichu Ren, an MIT PhD in robotics; and Wenbo Zhang, a University of Pennsylvania-trained AI engineer with a patent in industrial automation.