Western Magnetics Company
"American Motors for Drones and Robots"
South San Francisco maker of US-built drone motors and 1-150 Nm integrated actuators for humanoid and mobile robots; a16z-led USD 11m seed in 2026.
Western Magnetics Company, which trades as Westmag (a contraction of Western Magnetics), is an American manufacturer of electric motors for drones and integrated actuators for robots, headquartered in South San Francisco, California. The company was co-founded by David Hansen, its chief executive, and Jordan Sanders, its chief operating officer. It operated in stealth for about a year after closing its seed financing in 2025 and announced itself publicly on 2 June 2026 with an 11 million US dollar seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Founders Fund, Lux Capital, NFDG and Menlo Ventures participating.
Westmag's stated aim is to rebuild a domestic supply base for motors and actuators, a component class that its lead investor describes as the muscle of physical AI and in which US production share is close to zero. The launch coincided with tighter US rules on foreign drone hardware: in December 2025 the Federal Communications Commission added foreign-made drones and critical UAS components, including motors, to its Covered List. Westmag says its sourcing is NDAA-compliant and draws on suppliers in the United States and allied countries, notably Japan, and it is investing upstream in electrical steel stator stamping and rare-earth magnet finishing.
The product range is built on a shared motor architecture used for both aircraft and robots. Its drone motors are offered for Group 1, 2 and 3 unmanned aircraft systems in outrunner and inrunner designs, with stator sizes from 20 to 100 mm, propeller sizes from 5 to 50 inches and Kv ratings from 100 to 3,000. Its robot actuators are integrated units that combine a motor, control electronics and gearing for humanoid and mobile robots, with output torque from 1 to 150 Nm, supply voltage from 24 to 48 V and gear ratios from 6:1 to 12:1. The company has said that for now it is focused on designs that can be mass manufactured, and that most of its immediate business is on the drone side.
Manufacturing takes place at Factory 01 in South San Francisco, which also serves as the headquarters and where motors and actuators are designed, wound, assembled and tested, using automated winding, stator stamping and coating processes. The company has said it expects to reach tens of thousands of units a month there by the end of 2026, reports committed orders for hundreds of thousands of motors and actuators under supply offtake agreements with high-volume drone and robot producers, and states a long-term goal of producing millions of motors. Customers have not been named. The engineering team is described as coming from motor design, manufacturing engineering and production automation backgrounds, with alumni of Waterloo, UBC, MIT, Cornell and automotive scale-up companies, and the company was recruiting for actuator design, manufacturing, automation, test and sales roles at the time of checking.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
Robot actuators for humanoids and mobile robots
Integrated actuators combining motor, control electronics and gearing for humanoid and mobile robots, made in South San Francisco.
Drone motors for Group 1-3 UAS
US-built outrunner and inrunner brushless motors for Group 1, 2 and 3 drones with NDAA-compliant US and allied sourcing.
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Contact Western Magnetics Company
WEBSITE
https://www.westmag.comHEADQUARTERS
United States
Company Facts
Founded
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Primary Role
Component Supplier
Company Size
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Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
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Funding Stage
Early-Stage VC
Funding Total
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