Critical capability: How venture-backed innovation is making faster factories
RTX Ventures invests in startups to modernize manufacturing, addressing output demands from commercial and defense customers through AI, automation, and digital integration.
RTX Ventures is funding startups to address manufacturing bottlenecks across Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon, aiming to meet rising demand for faster production cycles. The initiative targets traditional processes like investment casting, which often face multi-year lead times, by introducing automation and AI-driven tools to reduce delays. RTX’s venture arm identifies and scales these innovations to improve efficiency within its own operations and supply chains.
Fabri, a 2025 startup, automates investment casting—a centuries-old method for producing metal parts—using 3D printing and AI to cut production times from months to days. The company’s software simulates design options in parallel, enabling rapid prototyping and predictive adjustments to avoid rework. Fabri collaborates with RTX’s businesses on castings for multiple products and plans to expand capacity with a new foundry annually, supporting urgent repairs and flexible production schedules.
Hadrian, launched in 2021, reimagines aerospace hardware manufacturing by integrating software-defined production systems to compress supplier onboarding timelines. Its factories combine robotics and human operators, using digital design files to automate programming, engineering, and prototyping. Hadrian delivers test parts in weeks instead of months, working with Collins Aerospace and Raytheon to achieve a 98% on-time delivery rate for weapon system components like Javelin and TOW parts.
Axilon addresses outdated digital systems in manufacturing by creating virtual clones of production lines to troubleshoot and optimize operations without downtime. Deployed at Raytheon’s Andover, Massachusetts, site, the technology enables AI-driven predictive maintenance and process testing, ensuring continuous operation for critical defense products. Axilon’s approach aims to modernize the defense industrial base’s manufacturing backbone, reducing bottlenecks caused by fragmented and legacy systems.