Y-Combinator Alum, Gecko Robotics Raises $40 Million Series B Round Led by Drive Capital, Supporting Rapid Growth in Industrial Inspection Robotics

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Gecko Robotics announces its Series B funding round of $40 million led by Drive Capital's Mark Kvamme. The round was led by Drive Capital with participation from previous investors including Founders Fund, Next47 and Y-Combinator.

"We are growing fast solving a critical infrastructure problems that affect our lives, and can even save lives," says Jake Loosararian, Gecko Robotics' 28-year-old co-founder and CEO. "At our core, we are a robot-enabled software company that helps stop life threatening catastrophes. We've developed a revolutionary way to use robots as an enabler to capture data for predictability of infrastructure; reducing failure, explosions, emissions and billions of dollars of loss each year."

Ahead of its time in innovation, Gecko Robotics began developing the technology in 2016 to modernize a historically stagnant industry. Gecko Robotics quickly took the lead in modernizing the industrial inspection industry with its wall climbing robot.

"We are very excited for the future of robotics in industrial inspection. The Gecko Robotics team are revolutionizing an industry that is in need of a real upgrade and will save lives," said Mark Kvamme, Lead Investor and Partner at Drive Capital. "I see amazing potential for Gecko's business model, they are on the path to become a market leader in their industry."

Notable angel investors in this round of funding include Mark Cuban, Josh Reeves (CEO of Gusto) and Jake Seid. Previous  investors include Justin Kan (founder/CEO of Atrium and Twitch), Gokul Rajaram (Doordash) and Paul Buchheit (Creator of Gmail and Partner at Y-Combinator).

Gecko Robotics plans to use the additional funding to support its quickly scaling business operations, which has already grown from 45 to 115 employees in the past 12 months, focusing on hiring software and product engineers to establish a cutting-edge data company, powered by robots.

Gecko Robotics is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with offices in Houston and Austin, Texas and Europe.

About Gecko Robotics
Gecko Robotics develops and operates robots to automate infrastructure inspections.

Today, Gecko is focusing on industrial plant inspections using acoustic, laser, electromagnetic and other non-destructive testing modules. Once this massive amount of critical data has been gathered, Gecko's software helps predict when and where infrastructure failure will occur. Every year, over $500 Billion is spent on industrial maintenance and replacement. Gecko has developed wall-climbing robots that dramatically reduce downtime resulting in millions saved. Traditionally, these inspections were done by humans resulting in death and injury. Gecko makes these dangerous jobs safer.

About Drive Capital
Drive Capital is a private investment firm Founded by two Sequoia Capital heavy hitter, Mark Kvamme and Chris Olsen. They partner with entrepreneurs in building long-term, sustainable businesses. Drive Capital invests in innovative technology, healthcare, and consumer companies in the Midwest. They are looking for innovative entrepreneurs addressing big market opportunities.

Media Contact: 
Ronjini Joshua
PR For Gecko Robotics
[email protected]
(562) 241-1668

SOURCE Gecko Robotics