Pictorus

DARPA gets it: The future of vehicle software *has* to be memory safe by design. While this solicitation is a good start for legacy code, in the long run we need tools which allow engineers to design software systems with this principle first and foremost, not as an afterthought. At Pictorus, we can help you convert legacy Simulink control systems (which generate C-code) into future-proofed Rust models.

Today I’m thrilled to announce Pictorus (pictor.us) has closed a $3.5M seed financing round, led by Catapult Ventures. Full announcement here: https://lnkd.in/dxe-7-5M After a year in stealth and nearly the same in Beta, we’re excited to use this latest funding to bring Pictorus to the aerospace, automotive, and robotic markets with a formal release later this year. The problem we’re solving is simple: Developing software for hardware is still way too hard. Most hardware startups we’ve encountered end up rebuilding the same core tools and infrastructure over and over again… some combination of makeshift Python scripts, hacky sims and visualizations, and some kludgy infra code.. all cobbled together to design, deploy, and debug the software running on each vehicle. It’s a mess, but it is today’s developer experience. In large part, this is because the engineering tools we all learned back at university (Matlab & Simulink) just don’t cut it for what we need to build and deploy today. And unless Elon is footing the bill, internal engineering tools are really inefficient to develop in-house; both in engineering hours sunk, and avoidable mistakes repeated. Engineers need better workflows for bringing new hardware to life - and at the scale and pace of modern, globally distributed fleets. Meanwhile, large, established aerospace and automotive teams feel trapped by the old Matlab/Simulink toolchain they committed to over 30 years ago, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars annually (each). At Pictorus, we’ve built a solution for this entire spectrum of experience - from scrappy aerospace startups looking to bootstrap their first hardware product, to large automotive OEMs looking to port their legacy Simulink code into Rust. “From the moment I saw what Pictorus had built, I knew this was the future of embedded systems programming. I’ve spent too much time banging my head on my keyboard debugging C/C++ or Matlab/Simulink while squinting at a screen hunched over a car, airplane, drone, or tractor.” says Darren Liccardo, General Partner at Catapult Ventures. “The aerospace industry is rapidly innovating, yet it lacks the flexible tools to quickly program and iterate,” Marlinspike Co-Founder Mislav Tolusic adds. “Pictorus can fill that gap.” I want to give a big shout out to the investors backing us this round, starting with our original partners at Lux Capital and Webb Investment Network, and introducing our latest partners at Marlinspike, Friends & Family Capital, RedBlue Capital, and Never Lift. We’ve assembled a team with deep connections across the industries most excited about our product, and are eager to accelerate our progress with their partnership. Finally, we’re doubling our core team, across engineering and GTM, so do reach out if this mission resonates with your aspirations!

Be part of the solution (Rust), or be part of the problem (C).