1872 Raises $15M Seed for Autonomous Steel Fabrication
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1872, an AI manufacturing company based in Cincinnati, Ohio, has closed a $15 million seed round and opened an automated steel fabrication factory in the city’s Camp Washington neighborhood. The round, one of the largest seed rounds in Ohio history, came through private funds advised by The O.H.I.O. Fund. The company announced the news on July 22, 2026.
Founded by three former SpaceX engineers, 1872 built what it calls Factory OS, a system that pairs AI software with advanced robotics to automate heavy fabrication. The platform manages the whole process, from sourcing material to directing the robots that cut and move steel components, with the goal of shrinking customer lead times from months to weeks in an industry short on labor and still leaning on manual work.
The Cincinnati site serves as a prototype, with full factory autonomy targeted for 2027 and plans to scale the software and platform model from there. The company takes its name from 1872, the year Andrew Carnegie built the world’s first steel mill, and it chose Ohio for the state’s manufacturing history, its labor pool, and its proximity to engineering talent.