Insider Brief
- American drone motor and robotic actuator manufacturer Westmag has emerged from stealth with $11 million in funding, with the round led by Andreessen Horowitz and participation from Founders Fund, Lux Capital, NFDG and Menlo Ventures to support production expansion and supply chain development.
- Since raising the funding in 2025, Westmag said it has expanded manufacturing capacity, secured suppliers, validated its products with high-volume customers and begun ramping production at its Factory 01 facility in South San Francisco.
- The company said it is pursuing a vertically integrated strategy spanning design, manufacturing and supply chain operations while investing in U.S. and allied-country supply networks to support growing demand from robotics and drone manufacturers.
American drone motor and robotic actuator manufacturer Westmag has emerged from stealth with $11 million in seed funding. According to the company, the round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Founders Fund, Lux Capital, NFDG and Menlo Ventures, to help scale production, strengthen supply chain operations and fulfill growing demand from robotics and drone manufacturers.
“Most of the hardware, especially the motors and actuators that actually bring motion to physical AI, has been built outside of the U.S.,” co-founder and CEO David Hansen said in the announcement. “But it doesn’t have to be this way. Westmag is aggregating the rising demand to quickly scale production capacity and become the trusted supplier of high performance, cost effective motors and actuators.”
Westmag said it is pursuing a vertically integrated strategy that combines design, manufacturing and supply chain operations under one roof. At its Factory 01 facility in South San Francisco, the company designs, winds, assembles and tests both motors and actuators using a shared production architecture intended to support high-volume manufacturing across a range of robotics and drone applications.
The company is also building a supply chain that spans the United States and allied countries, including Japan. According to Westmag, it is investing in upstream manufacturing capabilities such as stator steel stamping and rare-earth magnet finishing to increase production capacity, reduce costs and gain greater control over critical components.
“Western drone and robot companies should benefit from the compounding advantages of reliable, cost effective domestic component supply,” said Jordan Sanders, co-Founder and COO. “That’s why we’re building Westmag to be the great American motor company serving the global market.”
According to the company, initial production has been guided by supply agreements with high-volume customers, allowing it to scale manufacturing before expanding into a broader catalog of standardized products. Westmag said it plans to use that foundation to serve a growing range of robotics and drone companies seeking domestically produced components.
The company is hiring across manufacturing, supply chain, engineering, automation, sales and operations as it expands production from its Bay Area headquarters.
“Motors and actuators are the muscle of physical AI, and right now America’s share of that muscle is essentially zero,” Erin Price-Wright, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, added. “Without a domestic industry, every American drone company, every robotics company and every defense prime is building on a foundation they do not control. David and Jordan understand that the win condition is not a marginally better motor. It is the ability to make a lot of them, here, on a platform that serves both drones and robots.”
