Elementary Robotics, one of Los Angeles' top robotics startups, announced Tuesday it has raised $12.7 million in Series A funding to continue developing and deploying its automation products at scale.
Co-founded in 2017 by Bill Gross of Idealab and Arye Barnehama, a Pomona College dropout and former head of design at Daqri, the company says its mission is to assist people by "automating day-to-day repetitive tasks" but it adds cryptically on its website: "We can't detail too much about the technology because we're still in stealth mode."
<p>"I'm extremely excited to go public with what we're building, continue to support more companies with their quality and traceability needs, and grow the Elementary team to expand and deploy our innovative platform," said Barnehama.</p><p><a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/19/elementary-robotics-raises-cash-to-expand-in-los-angeles-growing-robotics-hub/" target="_blank">In 2018, Gross described to TechCrunch why he was bullish on the company.</a> "Up until now, robotic actuation was mostly about super rigid, super stiff, super strong, repeatable actuation, mostly for manufacturing. But with the recent advances in computer vision, machine learning, and adaptive learning, now you can have a robot that is gentler, less stiff, but MORE (sic) accurate using vision as your feedback system," Gross wrote in an e-mail. "This is a game-changer, and opens up a new frontier of lower cost, easier to program, easier to use robotics for more mainstream operations."</p><p>This latest round was led by Menlo Park's Threshold Ventures (formerly DFJ), an early-stage investor in disruptive technology companies and also had participation from existing investors Fika Ventures, Fathom Capital, Ubiquity Ventures and Toyota AI Ventures.<br/></p><p>"Elementary Robotics is one of a handful of 'new wave' intelligent automation companies contending that the application of AI and robotics will enable a novel set of functions that legacy providers are ill-equipped to address," said Mo Islam, partner at Threshold Ventures. "We were immediately impressed with Elementary's true software-first approach and its ability to deliver on it."</p><p>The valuation was not disclosed but the company last raised $13 million of funding in November at a $48 million post-money valuation, according to Pitchbook data. </p>
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Los Angeles-based Pipe Technologies, Inc. announced Wednesday it has raised $60 million in equity and asset financing as an extension to the $6 million seed round it closed in February.
Launched last September, Pipe enables software as a service (SaaS) companies with recurring revenues to tap into their deferred cash flows by getting a cash advance against the full annual value of software subscriptions. Trading limits on the platform range from $10,000 to several million dollars per month, depending on the size of companies.
<p>The round was led by Fin VC with participation from new investors Tribe Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, Lachy Groom and KSD Capital, and existing investors Craft Ventures, Fika Ventures, and MaC Ventures. The funding will allow Pipe to expand into new markets.</p><p>"We believe Pipe's subscription finance platform will radically transform the global SaaS business model, providing liquidity that will generate a tidal wave of growth and innovation for SaaS companies and positioning subscription contracts as a new and highly valued asset class for global investors," said Peter Ackerson, Investment Partner at Fin VC.</p><p>Also on Wednesday, Pipe unveiled its subscription financing platform and announced that Michal Cieplinski will serve as the company's chief operating officer and chief legal officer. Previously, Cieplinski served as general counsel at LendingClub, a publicly traded fintech company.</p><p>"Pipe already offers a unique value proposition to the booming SaaS industry, but the vision is much bigger than the work Pipe is doing today," Cieplinski said." We've started with reimagining funding, but ultimately want to be a larger one-stop solution for SaaS services."</p>
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Software as a service (SaaS) companies face a constant problem. They need money upfront to fund operations but their customers want to pay monthly. That means SaaS companies have to either provide discounts upwards of 40% for upfront payments or raise more capital, which hurts existing shareholders.
<p>Enter <a href="https://www.pipe.com/" target="_blank">Pipe</a>, a new platform launched last September that enables companies with recurring revenues to tap into their deferred cash flows with an instant cash advance against the full annual value of software subscriptions. Facilities range from $10,000 to several million dollars per month, depending on the size of companies.</p><p>Pipe announced Tuesday it has raised $6 million in seed funding led by Craft Ventures, with participation from Fika Ventures, MaC Ventures, Naval Ravikant, WorkLife Ventures, Liquid2 and The Weekend Fund. </p><p>"Until now, the main financing option for SaaS companies has been dilutive equity rounds," said David Sacks, Co-Founder & General Partner at Craft Ventures, in a statement. "Pipe is the tool every SaaS founder has been waiting for. It allows SaaS companies to grow without dilution by financing their SaaS receivables." </p><p>Pipe is led by entrepreneurs Harry Hurst, Josh Mangel, and Zain Allarakhia. Hurst previously founded the car booking platform, Skurt, which was acquired by Fair.com for $50 million in 2018.</p><p>Pipe has offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco with support functions in Phoenix. </p>
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