Manufact Raises $6.3M to Build the Cloud and Developer Tools for Model Context Protocol
Manufact (formerly mcp-use) has raised $6.3 million to build open-source SDKs and cloud infrastructure for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), according to reports from VentureBeat and SiliconANGLE. The seed funding follows the company's participation in Y Combinator's S25 batch.
MCP, a standard backed by Anthropic and OpenAI, allows AI agents to interface directly with external software and databases. As developers build servers to connect internal data to clients like ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor, Manufact provides the underlying developer tools, testing utilities, and hosting environments required to deploy and maintain those integrations.
Developer Infrastructure for MCP and ChatGPT Apps
Manufact builds tools that span the full lifecycle of an MCP implementation. Its open-source mcp-use SDKs in TypeScript and Python have recorded over 4 million downloads and 9,000 GitHub stars, serving developers at companies ranging from early startups to enterprises such as NASA, NVIDIA, and SAP.
In addition to the SDK, the team operates the Manufact MCP Cloud and an open-source inspector. The inspector gives engineers local testing harnesses, live previews, and tunneling tools to verify server behavior before deployment. The cloud platform functions as a specialized hosting environment with one-click Git deployments, automated compliance checks for Claude and ChatGPT store submissions, observability into tool calls, and automated artifact generation for app store listings.
The technical stack behind Manufact includes Next.js, TypeScript, and Tailwind on the frontend, with Python, Cloudflare Workers, Cloudflare Durable Objects, and AWS powering the backend infrastructure.
Founder Backgrounds
Manufact was co-founded by Pietro Zullo and Luigi Pederzani, who both serve as CEOs.
Prior to Manufact, Pederzani was a founding engineer at Morgen, an AI scheduling platform used by teams at Spotify, GitHub, Linear, and Canva. He previously managed a 12-engineer team on an enterprise RFP at Accenture Switzerland, holds an MSc in Computer Science and Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, and previously ran a YouTube channel with 150,000 subscribers.
In a presentation at the MCP V2 Release Event, Pederzani noted that Manufact rebuilt its framework from scratch to support the stateless V2 specification, aiming to cut cold launches and increase throughput for serverless environments. In another talk on MCP Apps, Zullo explained that the protocol is expanding beyond JSON responses to include interactive UI elements within client applications, with discovery driven by client directories and model routing.
Engineering Expansion Across Cloud and Field Deployments
Manufact currently operates with a core team of three employees in San Francisco and is hiring across infrastructure, product engineering, field engineering, developer relations, and sales.
To scale its hosting platform, Manufact is hiring a Senior Infrastructure Engineer ($100,000–$180,000, onsite in San Francisco). The engineer will maintain the cloud platform hosting customer MCP servers, ensure reliability across millions of tool calls, build tooling for private cloud installations, and establish security boundaries for data isolation.
On the product side, the company has an opening for a Founding Software Engineer (Product / MCP) ($100,000–$160,000, onsite in San Francisco) to take ownership of the Manufact MCP Cloud interface, including its deployment flow, inspector, and dashboard.
To assist enterprise adoption, the team is recruiting a Founding Forward Deployed Engineer ($100,000–$160,000, onsite in San Francisco). This role involves guiding enterprise customers and partners through pilots and technical architectures, combining direct coding with customer-facing project management.
Manufact is also hiring a Developer Advocate & Partnerships (DevRel) ($100,000–$160,000, remote or SF) to form integrations with ecosystem tools, produce demos and technical documentation, and represent the team at industry events. On the commercial side, an entry-level Go to market (GTM) / Sales Development Representative (SDR) ($60,000–$130,000, remote US or SF) will qualify inbound leads and work directly with the founders to establish sales processes.
Open Roles at Manufact
| Role | Location | Work Mode | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Founding Forward Deployed Engineer | San Francisco, CA, US | Onsite | $100,000 – $160,000 |
| Founding Software Engineer (Product / MCP) | San Francisco, CA, US | Onsite | $100,000 – $160,000 |
| Senior Infrastructure Engineer | San Francisco, CA, US | Onsite | $100,000 – $180,000 |
| Developer Advocate & Partnerships (DevRel) | San Francisco, CA, US / Remote | Remote | $100,000 – $160,000 |
| Go to market (GTM) / Sales Development Representative (SDR) | San Francisco, CA, US / Remote (US) | Remote | $60,000 – $130,000 |
