Invitalia supports the development of AI for CAD design
Following the €550,000 equity round closed in recent weeks, the startup has also secured Smart&Start Italia financing from Invitalia. Total resources supporting the growth plan now exceed €1.1 million.
Legnano (MI), 13 July 2026 — NEOCAD, an Italian startup developing artificial intelligence solutions for mechanical design, announces a new milestone in its growth journey. After closing a Follow-On equity round of €550,000, the company has also secured financing of up to €579,296 under the Smart&Start Italia program, the incentive managed by Invitalia on behalf of the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy dedicated to innovative startups.
Total resources raised in this phase thus exceed €1.1 million, combining private capital and public financing.
A dual validation for the technology developed by NEOCAD
The equity round saw the participation of Habitech/HabiSmart, with an investment of €300,000, and 40Jemz Ventures, with €250,000. This confidence from qualified investors is now joined by that of Invitalia, which has admitted NEOCAD to the Smart&Start Italia program. The financing represents a further validation of the technological and industrial value of the project developed by the startup, confirming the potential of its artificial intelligence platform for CAD design. “This result represents much more than an important financial milestone. For a startup like ours, it means seeing the validity of the technology we are developing recognized by two different but equally strategic stakeholders. On one hand, private investors who have chosen to believe in our entrepreneurial vision; on the other, Invitalia, which through Smart&Start has recognized the innovative and industrial potential of our project. This dual validation gives us further confidence and allows us to accelerate the development of our platform, continuing to invest in research, skills, and innovation to bring artificial intelligence to the center of mechanical design “, comments Luca Licciulli, Founder and CEO of NEOCAD.
The project financed by Smart&Start
The project, titled “NEOCAD: AI Agent for 3D CAD ideation and design in mechanical engineering,” involves a total investment of €724,120, covered up to 80% by public financing. The 24-month development plan will accelerate the evolution of the proprietary platform through new investments in research and development, strengthening of the technical team, and enhancement of marketing and communication activities.
An accelerating roadmap
In recent months, NEOCAD has consolidated its position in the Italian landscape of artificial intelligence applied to manufacturing. After joining the Microsoft for Startups, NVIDIA Inception, AWS Activate, and INNOVIT San Francisco programs, the company recently announced the filing of a patent related to its closed-loop artificial intelligence architecture, a technology designed to support mechanical designers throughout the entire process of searching, modifying, and generating CAD models directly within design environments. NEOCAD’s goal is to provide manufacturing companies with a platform capable of leveraging the knowledge contained in corporate CAD archives, reducing product development times, and making design increasingly efficient through artificial intelligence. With the completion of this new funding phase, the startup now has the resources needed to accelerate its technological roadmap and strengthen its presence in the Italian and European markets.
About NEOCAD
NEOCAD is an innovative Italian startup founded at the end of 2024 that develops software solutions for CAD design based on generative artificial intelligence. The company was established with the goal of making technical design faster, more efficient, and strategic, supporting engineers and designers in structured companies with operational and repetitive tasks. The platform centralizes and leverages corporate CAD assets, transforming design history into a queryable knowledge base. It indexes models and technical know-how, enabling the search for previously developed solutions, simulation of alternatives, and support for technical decisions, reducing time and duplication. Aimed at manufacturing companies and design and R&D teams, the company positions itself at the intersection of traditional design and generative AI, introducing a new paradigm of assisted design, available in Cloud or On-Premise mode.