Engineering Simulators: A Faster and More Efficient Way to Design Products
Product engineering has long relied on simulations as a crucial step in the design process. These simulations allow engineers to create prototypes and understand how they will perform in the real world, taking into account factors like aerodynamic drag, air and water flow, and pressure and temperature distributions.
However, according to Jason Lango, CEO of Luminary Cloud, modern engineering simulators tend to be slow and difficult to scale up. In an interview with TechCrunch, he stated that “Most engineers use legacy software that runs on on-premises infrastructure, resulting in a slow design workflow where each simulation takes days or weeks. This decades-old legacy software hasn’t modernized to run on the cloud and GPUs.”
Luminary Cloud, a startup focused on building a platform for engineering simulations, takes a different approach, utilizing the power of the cloud and GPUs, specifically Nvidia GPUs. Their simulation tooling, already being used by customers like Puma’s Cobra Golf and the air taxi startup Joby Aviation, allows engineers to test scenarios and optimize their designs in a fraction of the time it takes with traditional software solutions.
“Luminary’s real-time engineering approach empowers engineering teams to perform product simulation and analysis cycles in minutes, rather than weeks,” Lango explained. “This results in improved time to market, faster insights, better design outcomes, increased team productivity, and better use of valuable physical prototyping dollars.”
Luminary’s Investment in AI Sets Them Apart
While Luminary is not the first company to offer a cloud-based engineering simulation tool (their competitors include names like Siemens, Dassault Systèmes, and Ansys), they do have one aspect that sets them apart: their investment in artificial intelligence. According to Lango, Luminary’s platform includes an AI assistant, named Lumi AI, that automates tasks such as mesh generation.
Mesh generation, which involves dividing an object or scene into small, discrete cells or elements, is a crucial part of the simulation process. “Luminary is a simulation and analysis company, but we’ll eventually become a data company,” Lango stated. “With AI and machine learning capabilities, our platform could not only provide suggestions for how and where to make modifications to improve and optimize designs, but also learn how to set up, solve, and visualize simulations more effectively, making it easier for even novice users to extract valuable insights.”
Different Pricing Model and Expansion Plans
Additionally, Luminary has a unique approach to pricing. Instead of charging customers a license or subscription fee, they charge based on the amount of GPU usage, with customers paying for each minute of simulation and analysis.
“For example, a quick conceptual design simulation of an aircraft could run for a couple of minutes and cost less than $90,” Lango explained. “Customers doing larger, high-fidelity simulations, or large numbers of simulations exploring different design alternatives, can achieve volume discounts with prepaid capacity.”
In 2019, Juan Alonso, a Stanford aeronautics and astronautics professor, co-founded Luminary with CEO Jason Lango. Lango previously worked at Silicon Graphics, NetApp, and Cisco, and Alonso led research at NASA’s Fundamental Aeronautics Program, specializing in supersonic projects. The two met through Sutter Hill Ventures, a private equity firm, and quickly realized they would make strong business partners. They have since expanded their team to 73 employees and are looking to add even more by the end of the year.
Sutter Hill Ventures, the primary investor in Luminary, sees a bright future for the company. Luminary’s customer base already includes over 33 organizations in sectors such as automotive, aerospace and defense, and industrial equipment. With their recent announcement of $15 million in equity and $100 million in debt from Sutter Hill, Luminary plans to expand its sales organization and further develop its product capabilities.
“Jason and Juan are bringing the power of GPUs and the elasticity of the cloud to one of the most complex engineering functions,” Mike Speiser, managing director at Sutter Hill, commented. “Luminary Cloud has the potential to revolutionize the expensive and arduous process of product development.”
Luminary’s on-demand and prepaid consumption model has proven to be successful, particularly with customers in industrial R&D and engineering companies who continue to invest in their own product development. Lango is confident that even with the current slowdown in the tech industry, Luminary’s growth will not be impacted, as their customer base remains strong and their unique pricing model makes simulation and analysis more accessible than ever.
