Uptool is an AI software startup on a mission to accelerate U.S. manufacturing operations and productivity. Uptool’s AI software  is built for small, high-mix manufacturers like machine and fabrication shops to ensure they can move faster, operate more efficiently, and grow with confidence.

These SMB manufacturers power our industrial economy, but are too often slowed by manual paper processes, fragmented systems, and front-office bottlenecks that limit the shop's ability to win — before production even begins. 

We started where speed matters most — the interface between manufacturers and their customers. Uptool’s AI-engine automates 90% of quoting workflows: RFQ detection, document analysis and extraction, and draft estimation while organizing data and customer communication, so shop owners can win more work without adding overhead. Uptool is committed to developing the operating system that enables small, high-mix manufacturers to move fast and compete.

Founded in 2024 in San Mateo, California, Uptool has raised $6M in seed funding from leading industrial and AI investors, including Khosla Ventures, Eclipse, Kleiner Perkins, and Bessemer Venture Partners. With almost 50 years of manufacturing and technology experience combined at companies like Velo3D, Applied Materials, and Carbon, Uptool’s founders Benny Buller and Alex Huckstepp spent their careers working with manufacturers. They founded Uptool to help a critical layer of the supply chain — SMB manufacturers — transform their operations.