Process
You bring the idea and the funding from Silicon Valley. We validate it, build two units and test them in Shenzhen, and send them back to you.
About 7,000 miles and 15 hours apart. Your product moves forward while you sleep.
Studio
For physical AI founders backed by Y Combinator or another incubator or accelerator, with $500K or more raised.
Engineering fee, $20K–$150K+
Optional equity
Engineering fee + monthly retainer
10–30% markup per unit
How we charge. An upfront engineering fee (NRE) for each build phase: prototypes run $20K to $150K+, depending on complexity, agreed after an initial review. A monthly retainer for project management and supplier coordination while we build. A markup of 10–30% on manufacturing unit cost. And sometimes equity, in exchange for reduced fees or as an accelerator-style deal.
An AI workspace that takes hardware founders from first idea to a running business, A to Z: one place for your whole company, not another dashboard. Agents handle the routine work and bring in a person from our team the moment you need one. Each agent learns from real projects on our Silicon Valley and Shenzhen benches, so it knows what parts cost, what factories need and where hardware goes wrong.
Coming next after the four stagesUsage-based: pay for the tokens your agents useStarting with physical AI hardware founders
iF 2026
iF Design Award winner for the SAAL Surfbag. The same industrial design, engineering and manufacturing team runs Dip Venture.
See the work at dip.studio ↗More agents after launch: user research, product images and video, and logistics to your customer's door.
FAQ
Founders building a physical AI product who are backed by Y Combinator or another incubator or accelerator, have raised at least $500K, and need design, manufacturing and quality control through to the final product.
A manufacturability review of your idea, two units of the same MVP with every function tested, concept renders, and a landing page and pitch deck designed in the same language as your product.
Four parts. An upfront engineering fee (NRE) for each build phase: prototypes run $20K to $150K+, depending on complexity, and we agree the number after an initial review of your idea. A monthly retainer for project management and supplier coordination while we build. A markup of 10–30% on manufacturing unit cost. And sometimes equity, in exchange for reduced fees or as an accelerator-style deal.
We work only with founders backed by an incubator or accelerator who have raised $500K or more. That focus lets us run the same proven process for every founder.
Smart consumer products, wearables, IoT devices and simple robots, including wheeled robots with a head. Humanoid robots and complete vehicles are outside our scope, though we can build a subsystem for one.
Usually three to six months per build phase, and slips are common: one hardware fault can mean a new PCB or a different component. We give you a realistic timeline at the start, flag risks early and never overpromise.
We agree before the contract which certifications your product needs and who runs them. For products we develop, we run the process ourselves and work with labs such as SGS and TÜV.
Factories sometimes swap materials or parts after certification to cut costs. We keep the certified sample, check production against it and spot-test key functions on every batch.
Yes, we own delivery. We manage freight, customs and duties-paid (DDP) shipping through our logistics partners, so your product lands in the US without you coordinating it.
We keep a shortlist of vetted Shenzhen factories, tier 1 and tier 2, and match one to your volume and budget. We buy the critical components, such as the chip, load your firmware and send them to the factory. The factory buys standard materials, and the PCB maker buys the parts for its boards.
That is what validation is for. We assess feasibility and cost before anything is built, and recommend the changes needed to make it manufacturable.
You do. Designs and intellectual property created for your product are assigned to your company under our agreement. We work only with long-term manufacturers we trust, bound by contracts and production SOPs, so your idea does not end up in someone else's product.
Yes. We sign a mutual NDA before any detailed technical review of your product.
The story is yours; you know your product and market best. We design the deck in the same language as your product, and coach the delivery.
No. Each stage stands on its own. Most founders continue with us because the team that designed the product already knows how to build it.
Something else?
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Portal
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