Mach9 Raises $34M Series A and Expands AI CAD Platform to Aerial LiDAR

Mach9, a San Francisco-based developer of AI CAD software for civil engineering, closed a $34 million Series A funding round co-led by First Round Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners in October 2026 (Pulse 2.0). The financing included participation from Prudence and continued backing from Quiet Capital, bringing the startup's total funding to $49 million. The investment follows expanded customer adoption across state departments of transportation and engineering firms.

AI CAD for infrastructure and surveying

Mach9 produces Digital Surveyor, a web-based CAD platform designed to convert 3D point clouds and reality capture data into CAD drawings and engineering models. The software processes point cloud datasets captured via LiDAR and photogrammetry, automatically extracting physical features like curbs, road signs, utility poles, lane markings, building footprints, and power lines with centimeter-level accuracy (FinSMEs).

Civil engineering and surveying teams upload 3D scans collected using existing field equipment. Mach9 automatically drafts feature vectors up to 10 times faster and at one-fifth the drafting cost of manual point-and-click software (TechCrunch). In November 2026, the company broadened its software capabilities beyond mobile and terrestrial ground scanning to process aerial LiDAR and photogrammetry datasets from drones, helicopters, and aircraft (The American Surveyor).

Digital Surveyor supports data formats from hardware providers including RIEGL, Leica, Trimble, Skydio, GeoCue, and DJI. Extracted points, breaklines, catenary wires, and surfaces can be exported into standard CAD and GIS formats such as DXF, DWG, SHP, GDB, and LandXML (Geo Week News). To date, Mach9 has been deployed across more than 2,500 projects in all 50 states, processing over 100,000 miles of infrastructure corridors for organizations such as Caltrans, WSP, HNTB, NV5, and Fibersmith (Wowtale).

Carnegie Mellon robotics foundation

Mach9 was founded in 2021 by Alexander Baikovitz, Haowen Shi, and Joshua Spisak after meeting at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute (Technical.ly). Prior to starting the company, Baikovitz conducted robotics research focused on decontaminating legacy nuclear facilities for the U.S. Department of Energy, observing that many physical-world robotics challenges stemmed directly from labor-intensive surveying and mapping workflows (The Robot Report).

The team initially launched with a hardware focus, building mobile mapping systems to gather LiDAR and sensor data directly. After realizing that field scanning hardware was already widely deployed across survey firms while software processing remained a major constraint, the founders pivoted exclusively to software automation. Mach9 completed Y Combinator's Summer 2021 accelerator batch before establishing its headquarters in San Francisco.

Infrastructure demand and platform updates

The push to automate feature extraction arrives alongside increased U.S. federal funding from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and a 24 percent decrease in licensed U.S. surveyors between 2011 and 2025 (GIM International).

To address workforce constraints, Mach9 released Digital Surveyor 2, adding real-time vector feature suggestions, catenary wire modeling for electrical transmission lines, automatic ground surface generation, and interactive quality assurance tools (Geo Week News). These additions allow surveyors to validate automated linework in real time before exporting final CAD deliverables.

Hiring across engineering, product, and sales

With a team of 15 employees, Mach9 is expanding its engineering, commercial, and operational functions in San Francisco and remotely. The artificial intelligence group is seeking a remote Head of ML ($275,000 - $400,000/yr), along with San Francisco-based technical roles including an entry-level ML Engineer, Product ($180,000 - $300,000/yr) and an entry-level ML Engineer, Research ($180,000 - $300,000/yr).

The platform software engineering team is recruiting a Software Engineer - 3D Graphics ($130,000 - $180,000/yr) and a Software Engineer - Test Automation (SDET) ($130,000 - $170,000/yr).

On the business side, Mach9 is hiring a Head of Sales ($350,000 - $400,000/yr), a Head of Growth ($180,000 - $220,000/yr), a Solutions Engineer ($150,000 - $200,000/yr), a Business Operations Associate ($130,000 - $160,000/yr), and a Business Development Representative ($105,000 - $120,000/yr).

Additional open positions include a Perception Intern, a Community Marketing Manager, a remote Solutions Consultant, and a QA Survey Technician ($80,000 - $100,000/yr).

Open roles at Mach9

See all open roles at Mach9