CEO Jim Belosic once called VCs "grifters" in public a year ago. On Monday, he signed a deal: $110 million at a $1 billion valuation, co-led by Paradigm and Sequoia, with Stripe brothers Patrick and John Collison participating.
The money goes to SendCutSend, a metal fabrication shop in Reno founded in 2018.
What it does
It's simple: you send a CAD file, they cut it.
- Stainless steel, aluminum, copper, plastic sheets — cut and shipped within 24 hours
- Customers: robotics companies, space tech, auto factories, defense contractors
- Fastest-growing segment: cabinets and steel frames for AI data centers
Behind the PR term "software-defined manufacturing" is heavy work — CNC cutting machines, lasers, water jets, plus scheduling software that lets customers track orders like Amazon.
Why VCs now value it at $1B
Belosic had bootstrapped to $200 million in revenue while rejecting outside capital. What forced his hand wasn't VCs — it was orders:
"We logged over 35,000 overtime hours last year due to demand exceeding capacity."
The supply-demand gap: AI data centers are booming, but who cuts the steel for all those cabinets?
OpenAI is signing Stargate, Anthropic is working with KPMG, SoftBank is converting LCD factories — all these top-level narratives eventually land on a specific steel frame. NVIDIA sells 10,000 H200s, requiring hundreds of cabinets. Cabinets need steel frames; frames need cutting.
Chinese and Mexican steel shops are cheaper, but many AI data centers are in the U.S. and involve defense clients, so plates can't come from abroad. SendCutSend sits right in that niche.
Belosic's pivot
Belosic agreed only after Sequoia partner Andrew Reed flew to Reno to tour the factory — a 300,000-square-foot facility. His history with VCs shows his logic: he's not against outside money, but against "people who don't understand manufacturing telling manufacturers what to do." Sequoia saw his real production line, and he relented.
His plan for the $110 million is hardcore:
- $1 billion over five years into U.S. manufacturing jobs and local material sourcing
- $250 million specifically for expanding existing plants and opening new ones
It's not about valuation premium — it's about capacity.
A new sector emerges
The most notable detail isn't the money — it's that Paradigm, a VC primarily focused on crypto, led the round for a steel fabrication shop.
Paradigm's public statement says they're looking at "physical AI." The same week, modular data center company Armada raised $230 million led by BlackRock.
Put together: In this AI wave, the ones who really make money may not be the coders, but the steel cutters. At least in the 2026 data center building boom, that's the case.
Sources: This Founder Called VCs 'Grifters'—Then Took $110 Million From Them and Built a Unicorn (Inc.); CocoLoop; Paradigm expands beyond crypto with $110M SendCutSend investment (Crypto.news); Custom manufacturing startup SendCutSend discussed $110 million investment at $1 billion valuation (WSJ via Reuters/TradingView)