A Detroit startup just raised $11.5m from some big names.

Nox Metals, a seven-month-old company operating in Southwest Detroit, has closed a $11.5 million seed round.

The round was led by NYC-based Hyperion, with participation from notable firms including Y Combinator, Palmer Luckey, RoboStrategy, Alumni Ventures, Operator Collective, and DTX Ventures. [Source]

Nox Metals specializes in custom aluminum blocks for CNC machining. By utilizing AI automation, the company claims it can cut lead times from "days to seconds."

In a post, the founder and CEO Zane Hengsperger says:

Our metal has gone to space. It has protected our troops. It is in your car and in the machine that scanned your chest. It is all around us. And we can't stop supplying at warp speeds.

We will be revitalizing a WW2-era, 30,000 square foot factory in Detroit this summer where we will have our techno-industrialists working hard to further pursue our mission. We will be tripling down on technology, which has allowed us to move this fast for America thus far.

Seed funding is used to help a company fund product development, conduct market research, and make key hires.