• Portfolio

The AI Data Platform for Manufacturing

Our investment in CADDi.

September 15, 2026

by Ken Asada and Sho Yamanaka

• Founders: Yushiro Kato (CEO), Akifumi Kobashi (CTO) 
• Sector: Manufacturing AI / Industrial Data Platform
• Location: Tokyo, Japan / Chicago, Illinois

AI has made it possible to generate new ideas and product designs at an unprecedented speed. But it’s still exceedingly challenging to turn those ideas into real, physical prototypes. Parts take months to source, drawings get re-keyed by hand, and knowledge still lives in individual engineers’ heads rather than in a system anyone can build on. CADDi calls the gap between what’s conceived and what’s implemented the “Physical Limit,” and the company is on a mission to close it in Japan, the U.S., and beyond.

CADDi’s Manufacturing AI Data Platform ingests drawings and operational data scattered across a manufacturer’s suppliers, departments, and legacy systems, and structures them into a shared foundation that both people and AI can act on. Built around a capability that searches internal data across the organization and an AI capability that analyzes and makes judgments grounded in business context, the platform powers a suite of products supporting every stage of the value chain. It’s already being used by leading manufacturers around the world, including Japanese manufacturers Subaru and Kawasaki Heavy Industries as well as U.S.-based Amerequip and DCC Automation — showcasing how CADDi is gaining traction on both sides of the Pacific.

We’re investing in CADDi’s Series D because manufacturing is one of the largest sectors still without a category-defining AI platform. Before taking its product global, CADDi earned the trust of Japan’s most demanding manufacturers and used that relationship to sharpen its solution. That process of refinement is exactly the kind of deep, domain-specific AI infrastructure we look for as we back the next generation of enterprise AI, in Japan, the U.S., and around the world.

Welcome to Salesforce Ventures, CADDi!