Two engineers who helped build the data systems that powered SpaceX's rocket launches are now bringing that same technology to factory floors. Sift Stack, their new startup, is building data infrastructure designed to give manufacturers the kind of real-time insights that aerospace companies use to monitor billion-dollar launches. The move signals a growing recognition that advanced manufacturing needs the same sophisticated data tools that have become standard in tech and aerospace.
The software that helps SpaceX launch rockets is coming to a factory near you. Two former SpaceX engineers have launched Sift Stack, a startup building data infrastructure specifically designed for advanced manufacturing operations. The company aims to solve a problem that's plagued manufacturers for decades - how to actually make sense of the mountains of data their equipment generates.
At SpaceX, every sensor reading, every system check, every anomaly gets tracked in real-time. That level of visibility is what allows engineers to monitor a Falcon 9 from ignition through landing. But talk to most factory operators and they'll tell you their data lives in silos, spread across incompatible systems, often inaccessible until hours or days after production runs complete.
That's the gap Sift Stack wants to close. The founders spent years building the kind of data systems that could handle the complexity and speed required for rocket launches. Now they're betting that same expertise translates directly to manufacturing challenges. It's a logical jump - factories deal with similar demands around real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and quality control.
The manufacturing sector has been slow to adopt modern data infrastructure compared to other industries. While tech companies built sophisticated observability platforms and financial firms invested billions in data systems, factories often still rely on legacy industrial software that hasn't fundamentally changed in decades. That's starting to shift as automation and AI make their way onto production lines, creating both new opportunities and new demands for better data tools.
Sift Stack enters a market that's heating up fast. Industrial data platforms have attracted significant venture interest over the past few years as investors recognize that digitizing manufacturing represents a massive opportunity. Companies like Sight Machine and Uptake have raised hundreds of millions to build similar solutions, though each takes a slightly different approach to the core problem of manufacturing data.
