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If you work with computer-aided design (CAD) tools, there's a good chance you've heard tell of Onshape. The Cambridge Massachusetts–based company claims to offer the first full-cloud professional 3D CAD system capable of running on any computer or mobile device. Today the company announced $80 million in new venture capital led by VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. Combined with the $64 million in funding it announced back in March, today's boost brings their investment total to $144 million.
Maybe you've already tried Onshape for yourself. The beta has been live for about six months, in which time CEO and co-founder John McEleney says the software—which allows users to collaborate on CAD projects via a mobile device or web browser— has gained more than 10,000 users and logged upwards of 200,000 hours of usage. "I’m going to venture to say that 25 percent of that has been on mobile," says McEleney, who adds that he's happy with the uptake and the way designers and engineers are putting the program to use. "People are using it in ways we didn’t think were possible."
But then, unexpected application is a good thing—it's a sign users are being creative. McEleney says Onshape wants its users to feel empowered. One way to do that is to ensure that the non-paying user has access to the same tools as the professionals. Onshape runs on a freemium model, and the incentive for upgrading is privacy; non-paying users can keep ten designs classified, but anything more than that is open to the public. Paying users shell out 100 bucks a month. Enterprise offerings are currently being priced on a case-by-case basis.
Onshape is entirely cloud-based, so you can access it anywhere with solid Internet ("I like to say if your connection is good enough to stream Netflix," says McEleney, "it's good enough to use Onshape"). The mobile tools, says McEleney, are powerful—"not a stripped down, funky version" of the product." All devices working on a CAD project have access to the same data on the same transactional database, so there's no fear of overwriting other peoples' work. And changes are saved automatically. One way to think about it, according to McEleney: "What we’ve done is we’ve built Google Docs for CAD."
The three-year-old Onshape is hellbent on imbuing CAD with the collaborative spirit of apps like Google Docs and Slack. McEleney says the issue with existing tools like AutoCAD and SolidWorks, apart from costing thousands of dollars up-front, is that they're ill-suited to this sort of teamwork, especially on mobile devices. One example he points to is the existing check-in, check-out system of file management, which prevents you from working on a file while someone else has it "checked out."
"The problem is that all the existing tools are stuck in this outdated model," he says. "It's like the land that time forgot."
If that "land that time forgot" line sounds familiar, it's probably because McEleney's co-founder, Jon Hirschtick (former CEO and founder of SolidWorks), used the exact same phrase earlier this year to describe the industry Onshape is trying to take on. The direct quote: “The CAD market hasn’t changed. The way people design and build products has changed... It's like the land that time forgot.”
That's a hell of a talking point, but one that Autodesk President and CEO Carl Bass has objected to. "Making bold statements makes for good press but doesn’t solve customers’ problems," Bass wrote in a blog post back in March. In that post—which he titled "Setting the Record Straight" (oh snap)—he compares Onshape to Fusion 360, his company's $25-a-month cloud-based CAD tool that, by that time, had acquired more than 50,000 users in under two years. "So while we're flattered (and have a few other emotions) that Onshape is copying many things we pioneered, what’s most important to us is solving real customer problems."
But Onshape has been quick to address customer concerns. The beta is currently on a three-week update cycle, and the improvements are coming fast. "We've gotta close the functionality gap," says McEleney. One major gap that was recently filled: 2D drawing. Onshape had part- and assembly-modeling capabilities right out of the gate, but didn't support drawings until about a month ago. "Today, there are still many things [traditional vendors] can do that we can't, but we know what these are and we're addressing them."
McEleney estimates Onshape is 90 percent of the way there. "What most people use we have." The company is hoping to come out of beta towards the end of 2015. In the meantime, McEleney says, the community is growing nicely and usage levels are increasing. And the extra $80 million? That's just icing. "We’re going to stay the course," says McEleney, who says the company had originally planned to seek funding in 2017. Having that money now, he says, gives Onshape "comfort and knowledge that we have the runway to build the company the way we want to."
