Manufacturing industrial

Ultra

Website
Founded 2024Origin source ↗Checked 2026-09-15

Overview

Ultra builds practical, general-purpose robots that are deploying—and producing ROI—today.

Unlike traditional industrial automation that’s rigid and complex, our robots are zero integration (able to be installed in hours, not weeks) and are highly flexible, capable of quickly learning new tasks and delivering immediate value to customers.

Founded by a team of three-time entrepreneurs with a decade of collaboration, Ultra moves fast. We already have robots in the field generating revenue and data, with plans to rapidly scale deployments this year.

Company description As recorded 2026-11-08
LinkedIn
Manufacturing industrialHardware deviceBusinessesEnterpriseHardware sales

Founders & team

Jon Miller Schwartz

Founder/CEO

Building intelligent-industrial robots at Ultra. Prev Arena AI, Voodoo Manufacturing (YC W17), Body Labs, and Layer By Layer (YC S13).

LinkedIn X
Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15

Max Friefeld

Founder

Max is the co-founder and COO of Ultra. He studied Computer and Electrical Engineering at Harvey Mudd College ('13), and founded two YC-backed companies, Layer By Layer (S13) and Voodoo Manufacturing (W17). Immediately prior to starting Ultra, Max led teams at Boston Consulting Group optimizing operations for the largest logistics networks in the world and developing go-to-market strategy for private equity backed robotics companies.

LinkedIn
Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15

Oliver Ortlieb

Founder/CTO

Oliver is the co-founder and CTO of Ultra. Before co-founding Ultra, Oliver Ortlieb was the Co-founder & CTO at Voodoo Manufacturing where he built the software and systems to support one of the largest 3D printing factories in the world. Prior to that, he co-founded Layer By Layer, a secure marketplace for 3D-printable products. He holds multiple patents in the field of 3D printing, and received his BS in Computer Science from Harvey Mudd College.

LinkedIn
Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15

Chetan Parthiban

Founder

Chetan is a Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Ultra. He studied Mathematics and Robotics at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received both his BA and MSE. Chetan has deep experience in applied AI as he was one of the first machine learning scientists at Arena, where he focused on applying machine learning to solve high frequency decision making problems.

LinkedIn
Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15
4team members reported
Source-reported As recorded 2026-09-15

Founded 2024 · Source

News & product activity

Sources & observations

Y Combinator

Profile depthverified profile
Website observationwebsite reachable
Last website check2026-11-11
Location · source statedNew York City, NY, USA
Pricing evidenceNo pricing page confirmed
Maturity: Not assessed · 3 of 6 areas documented

Source-based assessment · automated evidence rules

The retained text does not establish product availability or customer use.

Maturity is an evidence-based assessment, not a success rating. It may understate the current stage where evidence is limited. Coverage records documented areas, not a complete or independently audited company history.

Stage definitions
independent websitesource corroborationreachable websitedescriptive evidenceclassified market and modelsourced peoplesourced founding year
startup.observe Directory coverage · Sources & method