TIGARD, OR AND SPACE COAST, FL — June 6, 2025 — Rapta Inc, a pioneering Agentic AI company supercharging US manufacturers, today announced it has closed an oversubscribed $2.7 million seed funding round. The round was led by top institutional investors and successful entrepreneurs with deep expertise in AI, manufacturing, and cybersecurity.
“Rapta’s AI platform addresses urgent capacity and quality challenges in aerospace and defense manufacturing,” said Dennis R. Pape, Founder and Managing Partner of Phase Shift Ventures. “Rapta is exactly the kind of deep tech company we are building Phase Shift Ventures to support — companies that bridge commercial and government markets with innovative solutions to significant problems. We’re proud to support their mission as they expand into Florida’s Orlando/Space Coast aerospace and defense corridor.”
Institutional investors in the round include Portland Seed Fund, Phase Shift Ventures, SeedFunders Orlando and Roadster Capital.
Notable private investors include industry veterans with deep expertise across cybersecurity, manufacturing and venture capital:
- Ben Johnson, a current board member and investor who was the co-founder of Carbon Black, acquired by VMware for $2.1B.
- Ryan Permeh, a current advisor and investor who was the co-founder and Chief Scientist of Cylance, acquired by BlackBerry for $1.4B. Currently a Partner at SYN Ventures.
- Dennis Fritz, the founder of DW Fritz Automation, acquired by Sandvik Corporation in 2021.
- Joe Dobrenski, former Partner of Sequoia Capital.
Supercharging the Intelligent Factory
Rapta is revolutionizing precision manufacturing for Fortune 1000 corporations, from defense primes to medical device leaders across the US. By connecting siloed processes across engineering, production, and quality, Rapta creates a unified feedback loop that accelerates decision-making, enhances certification traceability and eliminates costly errors. With major defense primes expanding their factory footprints across Florida, Rapta’s growing presence in the Space Coast region positions it strategically to support emerging production and quality needs.
“Partnering with Rapta transformed how we approach manufacturing inspection and quality control. Their solution has cut our inspection time by 54%, saving us nearly $50K per work cell in the first year and prevented more than 50 defects from shipping to customers.” said Jim Oswell, Plant Manager at Shimadzu USA Manufacturing. “Beyond these impressive numbers, what stands out is their deep understanding of manufacturing challenges and commitment to our success. Rapta is building something truly essential for the future of precision manufacturing.”
Rapta’s selection for the elite 2025 Northrop Grumman Technology Accelerator underscores the critical nature of their work, representing a fast track to collaboration with one of the world’s leading aerospace and defense technology companies. To better serve this market, the company has established its East Coast headquarters in Cocoa Beach, Florida, positioning itself at the heart of the Space Coast’s aerospace and defense corridor.
“As an early investor, Portland Seed Fund has been particularly impressed with Rapta’s team’s ability to gain traction among the defense industry’s most influential corporations,” said Angela Jackson, Managing Director. “We are excited to play in this lucrative space with a seasoned team leading the way.”
Aaron Brown, CEO of Rapta, emphasized the company’s mission: “This funding accelerates our mission to transform US manufacturing through AI. We’re seeing unprecedented demand from aerospace and defense manufacturers who need to scale their factories without scaling the workforce. We’re grateful to our customers and investors who trust us to deliver results.”
About Rapta Inc
Rapta is at the forefront of deploying advanced Agentic AI manufacturing solutions that transform inspection, quality control, and production scalability. The company’s autonomous AI agents deliver 30% expanded capacity, 90% lower error costs and 10x faster task automation. Rapta also accelerates New Product Introduction (NPI) ramp-up by 3x, helping manufacturers meet low-rate and full-rate production and reliability milestones, with confidence, speed, and on-time delivery.