Ripcord, a US-based records digitalisation technology startup backed by conglomerate Legend Holdings, raised $40m yesterday in a series B round consisting of $25m in equity financing and $15m of debt.
Icon Ventures led the round, which included fellow venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Lux Capital, as well as venture debt provider Silicon Valley Bank.
Ripcord is developing a system that uses robotics to digitise and simplify the management of records. Its module prints out barcodes that attach to a product, providing each one with a unique identification that helps the manufacturer maintain and search detailed records of its output.
The series B round comes just five months after a $9.5m series A led by KPCB that included Lux Capital, Legend Holdings’ early-stage investment arm, Legend Star, and Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of electronics producer Apple.
The company will use the funding to increase its headcount by more than 100 in the next year as it looks to produce new robots, further develop its Ripcord Canopy records management software and move into new markets.
Alex Fielding, Ripcord’s chief executive, said: “Since Ripcord launched in March, we have been flooded with requests from some of the largest global companies needing our help to digitise their world.
“To keep up with demand, our investors doubled down to help us continue our mission of disrupting the $25bn records management industry. Now, we are fulfilling our promises by building even more robots and deploying our production version of Ripcord Canopy to give everyone the tools they need to securely access anything, anywhere at any time.”