Forgepoint raises $9.8M to automate manufacturing quotes with AI agent Frank

The round was co-led by Primary Venture Partners and a16z Speedrun, the startup accelerator run by Andreessen Horowitz. Angel investors from companies including OpenAI Group PBC, Brex LLC., Vercel Inc. and Social Finance LLC also participated.

The funding comes as President Donald Trump has made reviving America’s manufacturing industry a priority in order to reduce reliance on foreign imports and create more jobs. Forgepoint shares that goal, according to the report.

Forgepoint is the creator of Frank, an artificial intelligence agent that acts as an inside sales representative. Frank taps into a manufacturer’s existing software systems and pricing structures to understand what a customer wants and produce a suitable price quote.

Forgepoint co-founder and Chief Executive Jack Strauss told SiliconANGLE that he is trying to solve a mismatch in modern industry: manufacturers can often create a very specific part faster than they can respond to a customer’s initial inquiry. He saw that problem while working for Northrop Grumman Corp., Bain & Co.’s Advanced Manufacturing practice and later at the autonomous aircraft manufacturer Xwing. At all three firms, he saw heavy investment in manufacturing automation but a refusal to move on from sluggish back-office systems that relied heavily on email, spreadsheets and aging business software.

Most manufacturers are slow to respond to inquiries, and that can cost them. A 2025 study by Gardner Intelligence found that more than 50% of manufacturing firms expect a vendor to respond to an inquiry within 24 hours. Forgepoint’s own research shows that 78% of companies end up buying from the first supplier that responds to their request.

Strauss and co-founder Alex Pareto spent months touring various American Midwest manufacturing plants in early 2025, studying their business processes and shadowing employees, according to the report. They concluded that artificial intelligence was the ideal tool for the administrative issues that bog down the RFQ process.

Frank is designed to operate like a human sales representative, according to Forgepoint. It is given its own corporate email address and taught the specific operating procedures, pricing rules and approval requirements for each shop floor. When an RFQ arrives, Frank analyzes the request, reads attached files and calculates what the cost should be based on the company’s own cost models.

Strauss said, “We kept meeting manufacturers with strong demand and capable teams, but their best people were spending hours on administrative work. Speed is a competitive advantage, so we built Frank to keep jobs moving and free skilled operators to focus on the decisions only they can make.”

Frank can also detect when an inquiry leaves out important details, such as exact specifications that affect price, and send a follow-up email asking for clarification, according to the report. If necessary, it can send a highly technical request to human engineers for input before producing the final quote.

The company says early adopters have reported an average increase in monthly quote throughput of 30%, while the average time it takes to produce a quote has dropped by 55%.

Forgepoint has bigger ambitions than RFQs. With the seed funding, it will work to bring Frank to more shop floors and look at other ways AI can be used to scale up manufacturing operations.

Primary Venture Partners Principal Zach Fredericks said he backed Forgepoint because the ability to quote, plan and manage work is just as important as actual manufacturing capacity. “Forgepoint is giving those teams more capacity, starting with quoting,” he said.