Ex-Anduril engineer raises $42M for composite parts startup
10 reported
Zack Eakin, a former engineer at defense startup Anduril, has raised $42 million in Series A funding for his composites company Layup Parts, according to TechCrunch. Eakin left Anduril in 2024 to start the Huntington Beach, California-based startup, which employs about 60 people. The funding round was led by dual-use venture fund Marlinspike, with participation from Cerberus Ventures, Pinegrove Venture Partners, and existing backers Founders Fund and Lux Capital. Eakin previously raised a $9 million seed round two years ago. The company aims to make ordering custom carbon fiber or fiberglass parts as easy as ordering from Amazon. Eakin said he realized during his time at Anduril that while other manufacturing verticals had improved, no one was doing the same for composites. The startup has already reduced the time between receiving customer data and manufacturing a part from weeks to hours in some cases.
What’s reported
Zack Eakin left Anduril in 2024 to start Layup Parts.
The startup raised $42 million in Series A funding led by Marlinspike.
New investors include Cerberus Ventures and Pinegrove Venture Partners; existing backers include Founders Fund and Lux Capital.
Eakin previously raised a $9 million seed round two years ago.
Layup Parts employs about 60 people and is based in Huntington Beach, California.
The company aims to make ordering custom composite parts as easy as ordering from Amazon.
Eakin has worked with composite materials for around two decades, starting at Chip Ganassi Racing.
He was the first engineer at Elon Musk’s Boring Company in 2017 before joining Anduril in 2021.
The startup’s biggest business lines are aerospace and defense, including startups and traditional defense primes.
The company has cut part manufacturing time from weeks to hours in some cases.
Key figures
Zack Eakin, founder of Layup Parts, former Anduril engineer
Palmer Luckey, co-founder of Anduril
Brian Schimpf, Anduril CEO
Matt Grimm, Anduril co-founder
Chris Darby, founder of Cerberus Ventures
Sources: TechCrunch
