AI startup Code Metal raises $36 million in funding round led by Accel

Peter Morales founded Code Metal two years ago and entered the AI ​​coding tools market at a time when AI companies were rapidly changing the software development market.

There’s now $36.5 million in the bank, thanks to an investment led by Accel Partners, a venture firm known for early bets. Facebook, Dropbox And Atlassian.

Code Metal’s technology allows software engineers to write code once, then automatically translate it into another programming language; so they can deliver new features faster and to a wider user group. Morales, who was previously chief technology officer at a gaming company, said Code Metal’s offering was particularly appealing to developers working on software to power appliances, consumer electronics, factory robots, automobiles and medical devices.

These are industries with products that include a wide variety of chips that come with different software development kits, operating systems, and code libraries. Morales gave the example of an automaker creating features for a new model sports car that runs on the latest technology. Nvidia the difficulty of porting the chip and the code behind the feature to the company’s legacy minivan lineup. Code Metal’s artificial intelligence will perform the translation automatically.

Morales positions the company as different from vibration coding platforms like Cursor or Anthropic’s Claude Code, which allow users to automate much of the software writing process with text prompts.

“Vibe coding is all about describing an initial idea in text and generating code that allows you to start developing your minimum viable product,” Morales said. “This isn’t where most companies spend their time. Code Metal focuses on bringing code to production. This requires strong guarantees that the code we convert is accurate, compatible, and works as expected.”

Morales said large language models alone cannot provide this level of precision; so Code Metal uses what computer scientists call formal methods to check the code and ensure it’s translated correctly.

The company, headquartered in Boston, says it has already signed contracts worth tens of millions of dollars with commercial and public sector customers, including the U.S. Air Force. L3Harris and Raytheon, as well as some automotive suppliers and consumer electronics brands.

Accel’s Steve Loughlin, who led the deal, said Code Metal was the fastest-growing company in his firm’s early-stage startup portfolio and that demand for its technology was growing.

“The market opportunity here is almost endless to help people develop at the edge much faster and modernize legacy code,” Loughlin said.

Code Metal’s previous backers, J2 Ventures and Shield Capital, as well as Bosch Ventures and Raytheon’s RTX Ventures, also participated in the round.

WRISTWATCH: The rise of AI ‘feel coding’