Squint Raises $40M to Bridge Manufacturing Knowledge Gap With Agentic AI
The industrial AI startup digitizes 'tribal knowledge' to prevent operational losses as veteran factory workers retire.
Industrial AI company Squint has raised $40 million in Series B funding to expand its platform for digitizing factory expertise. The investment aims to bridge a critical knowledge gap in manufacturing by converting undocumented operational know-how into AI-powered workflows for frontline workers.
The funding round was led by The Westly Group and TCV, with additional participation from Sequoia Capital and Menlo Ventures. This latest injection of capital brings Squint's total funding to over $59 million. Founded by Devin Bhushan, the company utilizes a combination of Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality (AR) to capture the "tribal knowledge" typically held by veteran employees and translate it into actionable digital instructions.
The Crisis of Tribal Knowledge
Manufacturing faces a systemic risk as a generation of highly experienced workers reaches retirement age. Much of the critical expertise required to maintain complex machinery and optimize production lines exists only as undocumented "tribal knowledge" passed down verbally or stored in the minds of senior staff. While AI has rapidly transformed white-collar productivity, frontline industrial operations have largely remained analog, leaving factories vulnerable to efficiency losses when key personnel depart.
Squint addresses this by creating a mobile-first intelligence layer that integrates people, processes, and machinery. The efficiency gains are stark: the platform can reduce the time required to produce a detailed work instruction from approximately 12 hours of manual human effort to just six seconds. According to founder and CEO Devin Bhushan, for operators working in the high-pressure environment of the factory floor, the technology "already feels like magic."
Implications for Industrial Scaling
By automating the capture of expert knowledge, Squint allows factories to scale the capabilities of their most skilled operators across the entire workforce. This capability is particularly vital as the United States accelerates the reshoring of manufacturing, which requires the rapid onboarding of new staff who lack decades of institutional experience. Reducing operator error and minimizing downtime through instant access to expert-level guidance directly impacts the bottom line and operational stability.
The Path to Agentic Manufacturing
Moving forward, Squint is focusing on expanding its "Agentic Manufacturing" capabilities. This shift suggests a move toward AI agents that do not just provide instructions, but actively manage and optimize manufacturing workflows in real-time. As the company scales, the industry will be watching to see if this digital layer can fully replace the need for long-term apprenticeship models or if it will serve as a hybrid support system for the next generation of industrial workers.