AI Avenue Ecosystem Expands with Addition of AI Manufacturer
March 5, 2025
Hellbender, a developer and manufacturer of on-edge AI computer vision products, announced today its strategic headquarters relocation and expansion to Bakery Square, positioning the company for accelerated growth to serve the physical AI market. Founded by a U.S. Marine veteran, Hellbender proudly employs a workforce that is 30% veteran-led in AI manufacturing. The company will occupy approximately 40,000 square feet in Bakery Office Four—formerly home to Matthews International—placing it at the heart of Pittsburgh’s AI ecosystem. Located next to Sheetz’s Innovation Hub and Google, Hellbender joins AI Avenue, home to more than 25 AI-driven companies, including Lovelace AI and Skild AI.
"At Hellbender, we are proud to bridge the gap between AI, robotics, and the real-world, driving a revolution that will transform industries worldwide. Strategic proximity to end-users, AI talent, and research institutions—combined with the dynamic environment of AI Avenue—is mission-critical for our continued growth," said Hellbender’s Founding CEO Brian Beyer.
The expansion strengthens Hellbender’s ability to design, prototype, manufacture, and deploy its leading on-edge perception hardware, delivering real-time situational awareness and decision-making while significantly lowering operational costs. Leveraging advanced silicon from NVIDIA, Sony, Raspberry Pi, and Hailo, Hellbender supports a diverse range of industries, including energy, defense, autonomy, agriculture, healthcare, and transportation. Over the next year, the expansion, to include investment in high-tech manufacturing equipment, will create more than 100 new jobs, with plans to scale to over 300 employees in the near future.
The edge AI device market is projected to grow exponentially, with analysts estimating it will reach over $60 billion by 2030, driven by demand for real-time, decentralized, and efficient AI processing. The company’s American-made products will be assembled by a mostly veteran technical manufacturing workforce alongside cobotic work cells, supporting a growing global demand for next-generation AI-powered hardware. Founded in 2021 with venture backing from Bakery Square-based Magarac Venture Partners, Hellbender has already achieved cash-flow positivity, boasting a customer base and a backlog exceeding tens of millions of dollars.
"Hellbender brings a much-needed hardware complement to our world-class AI software ecosystem. With a veteran workforce and 100% American-made products under one roof, they are uniquely positioned to meet the federal onshoring and AI dominance mandate. Their expansion means more jobs now and even more on the horizon—and the Strike Team is committed to helping accelerate their growth," said Joanna Doven, Executive Director of the AI Strike Team.
Walnut Capital, the developer behind Bakery Square, has invested millions into the site’s buildout, including a new multi-modal road providing additional access to AI Avenue from Washington Boulevard —a project backed by State Senator Jay Costa. Additionally, the AI Strike Team is working to secure funding to buildout Secure Compartmentalized Infrastructure Facilities (SCIF), which is essential for emerging AI companies like Hellbender to qualify for national security and defense contracts.
"We envision a future where intelligence thrives at the edge—where robots operate autonomously with secure, real-time AI, empowering businesses, communities, and individuals to unlock unprecedented value from their data," Beyer added. "By seamlessly bridging the digital and physical worlds, Hellbender is pioneering a new era of autonomous decision-making at scale."
The approximately $4 million buildout is set to begin on April 1, with a planned move-in date in early fall 2025. Hellbender will retain its current facility at U-PARC as an overflow manufacturing site.
About Hellbender
Hellbender develops and manufactures leading scalable on-edge AI computer vision systems, enabling real-time perception, decision-making, and adaptability at a fraction of the cost of cloud-based AI applications. Optimized for low-latency, high-accuracy performance, Hellbender’s proprietary AI products seamlessly deploy across industries where real-time, on-device intelligence is essential. As the demand for physical AI accelerates, Hellbender is at the forefront, delivering model-agnostic AI hardware that enhances decision-making and operates reliably across all sectors. By enabling customers to transition smoothly from prototyping to full-scale production, the company ensures AI innovation moves from concept to reality.
More than a provider, Hellbender is a strategic partner, offering expert engineering, seamless prototyping, and scalable manufacturing to simplify deployment and accelerate growth. In the race to build the infrastructure for physical AI, Hellbender is forging the iron for the AI railroad—connecting the digital to the real world.
