From stochastic deposition to deterministic placement.
ProtoDynamics combines LabForge, a first-principles materials discovery engine, with LFGKC, a protected architecture intended to make PVD placement more precise where vacuum deposition remains the right manufacturing route.
LabForge runs. LFGKC is filed and engineered. The company is raising its first round to build and independently validate the hardware.
Thin-film teams can spend years improving a process before proving it is the right route.
01
The material question
Define the required film function before choosing the manufacturing process.
02
The route decision
Compare solution coating, vacuum deposition and other feasible routes against the same target state.
03
The PVD control gap
Where PVD remains necessary, the arriving flux still forms the film through statistical events.
ProtoDynamics · November 202602
Product architecture
LabForge selects the route. LFGKC controls PVD where PVD earns its place.
ProtoDynamics starts with the required material function, evaluates the manufacturing path and applies LFGKC only to applications that justify vacuum deposition.
LabForge · material and route
Functional targetStarts from the property or manufacturing outcome the customer needs.
Specified outputProduces a candidate composition, material structure and manufacturing route for review.
Evidence todayExecutable software and documented materials outputs.
LFGKC · PVD manufacturing
Controlled processDesigned to make thin-film placement more precise within conventional PVD tool classes where PVD remains necessary.
Manufacturing objectiveTranslate a selected recipe into a repeatable deposited material state.
Evidence todayFiled architecture and engineering record. No physical film result is claimed.
ProtoDynamics · November 202603
Investor risk ledger
The company advances by retiring four risks in sequence.
Risk
Evidence today
Open question
Round outcome
Technical
LabForge runs. LFGKC has an engineering record and filings.
Can LFGKC create a repeatable film difference in a valid PVD case?
Independent paired-film evidence.
Manufacturing
The product separates route selection from PVD control.
Can it reject the wrong route and integrate where PVD remains necessary?
Route review, integration design and operating data.
Market
A defined buyer problem and commercial hypothesis.
Will a manufacturer pay for route selection and a bounded PVD evaluation?
Paid evaluation, LOI or license option.
Team
Founder has operated a physical-product company since 2012.
Can the company add the materials and PVD-hardware leadership required?
Technical leadership and qualified test partners.
A filing, simulation or software output reduces uncertainty. Only physical evidence can retire the central manufacturing risk.
ProtoDynamics · November 202604
Risk already reduced
The work completed to date narrows the first physical test.
Stage · engineered, pre-hardware
Customer revenue
No product revenue or paid placement-system evaluation is claimed.
Independent film data
No controlled-deposition result is claimed.
Working hardware
The placement system remains unbuilt.
▲ Current evidence boundary
Filed position
U.S. provisional filings cover LFGKC thin-film control concepts and related apparatus.
Discovery engine
LabForge runs and produces documented materials outputs.
Operating record
The founder has built and operated a physical-product business since 2012.
ProtoDynamics · November 202605
Technical risk
This round tests whether controlled placement changes the film.
The first validation program selects an application that still requires PVD, establishes a conventional baseline, runs LFGKC, then compares both films through independent metrology.
Architecture filedTest protocol to freezeNo film data
Technical risk retires when
A predeclared material measure differs from the baseline, the result repeats across batches and the control approach transfers to a second material system.
ProtoDynamics · November 202606
Manufacturing risk
PVD must earn its place before LFGKC enters the process.
The customer screen compares feasible manufacturing routes first. Applications move to LFGKC only when the film requirement or existing qualification path still favors PVD.
Route decision
Define the required film function
Compare solution coating and vacuum-deposition routes
Reject PVD where another route meets the requirement with less burden
Select a PVD case with a measurable qualification problem
LFGKC evidence
Independent architecture review
Representative integration design and bill of materials
Prototype or test-rig operating record
Cycle-time, target-use and repeatability data
Manufacturing risk remains open until the route decision is documented and LFGKC runs on representative hardware under a written protocol.
ProtoDynamics · November 202607
Market risk
Market risk retires when a customer pays to test a material outcome.
The opening buyer has a required film function and an expensive qualification loop. A paid LabForge evaluation screens the route. Only a justified PVD application moves into an LFGKC pilot.
Evidence today
The customer problem is defined.
The proposed value is measurable in qualification time, material use or film performance.
No paid pilot, LOI or customer commitment is claimed.
Evidence this round produces
A customer-selected film function and process problem
A pilot protocol with acceptance criteria
A measured value case tied to the customer workflow
A paid evaluation, LOI or license option
ProtoDynamics · November 202608
Team risk
The founder has operating experience. The round adds the missing technical leadership.
Cory Graves
Founder and inventor
Founded Triad Electric Vehicles in 2012 and has operated across product development, manufacturing, sales and service.
Technical owner of the current engine, architecture and filings.
Execution evidence
A physical-product operating record and a documented development program.
Current gap
No full-time materials scientist or PVD hardware lead is claimed.
Round outcome
Add technical leadership and contract independent engineering, deposition and metrology work to qualified facilities.
ProtoDynamics · November 202609
Proof sequence
Each technical result supports a commercial decision.
Technical proof
Define film function
→
Screen process routes
→
Freeze PVD case
→
Run paired films
→
Measure and repeat
Commercial proof
Select customer problem
→
Scope pilot
→
Measure value
→
Secure evaluation
→
Negotiate license
Every stage produces a written artifact. A failed result changes or ends the claim before more capital is committed.
ProtoDynamics · November 202610
Science behind the risk
The required film state determines which manufacturing route deserves validation.
Solution coating and vacuum deposition can produce different interfaces, grain structures, density and defect states. The target function sets the comparison.
LabForge specifies the material state and candidate route. When PVD remains the appropriate path, LFGKC is intended to control formation. Independent metrology decides whether the film moved toward the target.
The first film program measures
Structure and orientation against a conventional baseline.
Roughness, defects and repeatability across batches.
The functional property selected with the customer.
The science supports the test. The measured result decides the claim.
ProtoDynamics · November 202611
Business model
Revenue follows the customer from material question to qualified process.
1 · LabForge
Paid evaluationDefine the target function and deliver a candidate material, recipe and manufacturing route.
2 · LFGKC pilot
Co-developmentWhen PVD is justified, run a bounded paired-film and metrology program on representative hardware.
3 · Production
License and supportLicense the qualified LFGKC process, control software and integration package by tool, site or field of use.
Contract form, price and margin remain validation items. No customer commitment or royalty rate is claimed today.
ProtoDynamics · November 202612
Process boundary
The route decision comes before the hardware decision.
LabForge begins with the required film function and returns a candidate material and process route. ProtoDynamics does not need every problem to become an LFGKC sale.
LFGKC serves the subset of applications where PVD remains necessary and repeated qualification consumes significant time or target material.
A credible boundary
Solution coating remains in the comparison.
PVD advances only when the application justifies it.
LFGKC must then outperform the conventional PVD baseline.
The validation program tests this boundary. It does not assume the outcome.
ProtoDynamics · November 202613
Defensibility
Protection follows the system from discovery through manufacturing.
Discovery
Materials engine and documented outputsExecutable and held internally
Manufacturing
LFGKC thin-film control method and systemU.S. provisional filed
Related deposition apparatusU.S. provisional filed
Know-how
Process translation, controls and validation recordHeld internally
Provisional applications are unexamined and are not issued patents. Claim scope, ownership, priority and freedom to operate require counsel review.
ProtoDynamics · November 202614
Use of capital
Each tranche retires a named risk.
Capital stage
Work funded
Decision reached
$500k first close
Independent route review, frozen PVD test case, integration design, prototype or test rig, paired depositions, external metrology and patent triage.
Whether LFGKC creates a repeatable film difference strong enough to justify a customer pilot.
$1.5M–$2.5M seed
Repeat batches, second material system, technical leadership, equipment-partner integration, machine economics, IP conversion and the first paid pilot.
Whether ProtoDynamics can qualify LFGKC and establish its first licensing path.
The amounts are company financing targets, not committed terms. Vendor quotes, schedule and tranche conditions remain diligence items.
ProtoDynamics · November 202615
The raise
The first round converts LFGKC from engineered architecture into measured manufacturing evidence.
ProtoDynamics is raising its first round: a $1.5M–$2.5M seed beginning with a $500k first close.
The first close answers one question: can LFGKC create a repeatable film result in an application where PVD remains justified?
The company advances as each technical result supports the next commercial commitment.
Funding invitationLead or join the staged seed round.
Cory Graves · protodynamics.us
ProtoDynamics · November 202616
Appendix · A1
Evidence claims and their current boundary.
Claim
Supported today
Evidence required next
LabForge discovery
Executable engine and documented materials outputs.
A predicted material and process route tied to a manufactured sample and external measurement.
LFGKC placement
Filed architecture and engineering record.
A working system and paired-film result against conventional PVD.
Manufacturing fit
Architecture designed around conventional PVD tool classes.
A documented route comparison, representative integration, operating data and machine economics.
Customer demand
Defined buyer, workflow problem and value hypothesis.
Paid evaluation, LOI, pilot or license option.
Execution team
Founder operating record and identified work packages.
Materials and PVD-hardware leadership plus qualified external facilities.
The deck keeps filings, software outputs, engineering designs, physical measurements and commercial commitments as separate evidence classes.
