Cascade Labs Raises $5.3M to Revolutionize Data Automation

Cascade Labs Secures $5.3 Million Seed Funding to Automate Data Workflows

Cascade Labs is focused on providing solutions for operations teams seeking to automate their data workflows. The company’s platform utilizes no-code tools, enabling teams to integrate data from various sources, perform necessary transformations, conduct analyses, and subsequently trigger automated processes based on the insights gained.

Recently, Cascade Labs announced the successful completion of a $5.3 million seed funding round. This round was spearheaded by First Round Capital, with additional participation from Redpoint Partners, Susa Ventures, and a cohort of angel investors.

Founding and Leadership

The company was established by Jake Fuentes, serving as CEO, and Jon Brelig, the CTO. Fuentes brings prior experience as a co-founder of Level Money, a personal finance service that was acquired by Capital One in 2015.

Brelig previously co-founded InfoScout (now Numerator), holding the position of CTO until the inception of Cascade Labs in September 2019, which he co-founded alongside Fuentes.

Image Credits: Cascade Labs

Addressing a Critical Gap in Data Utilization

Brelig highlighted a common observation from his time at InfoScout: many operations and analyst teams possess strong data analysis skills, but often lack the technical expertise required to fully automate their workflows. This frequently results in significant manual effort, such as the creation of complex weekly reports.

Fuentes echoed this sentiment, drawing from his experience following the sale of his previous company to Capital One. He observed that even within a highly analytical organization, access to vast datasets remained limited for personnel with deep business knowledge.

“After leaving Capital One, Jon and I began discussing this challenge, realizing it might be a shared issue,” Fuentes explained. “This realization ultimately led to the founding of Cascade.”

Beyond Data Exploration: Operationalizing Insights

Fuentes acknowledged the abundance of tools available for data access and exploration. However, he emphasized a crucial distinction: the gap between exploring data and actively applying it to drive business outcomes.

“This is precisely what fraud operations needed at Capital One, and what InfoScout required to effectively serve its clients,” Fuentes stated. “To truly operationalize data, a different set of tools is necessary than those currently available.”

Image Credits: Cascade Labs

From Dashboards to Actionable Workflows

While building informative dashboards is valuable, Cascade Labs focuses on creating a data tool that translates insights into concrete actions. For example, the platform can assist a scooter company in optimizing nightly pickups for recharging and maintenance.

Cascade Labs empowers operations teams to seamlessly integrate data from common sources, or even CSV files, and construct workflows around it. These workflows can encompass basic data transformations and standard operations, alongside predictive capabilities.

Typically, these workflows culminate in a specific action, such as sending notifications to scooter operators regarding which vehicles require repairs.

The Evolution of Data Access and Automation

Bill Trenchard, a partner at First Round, commented on the ongoing shift in how data is accessed and utilized within organizations. “Looker pioneered a transformation in delivering the right data to the individuals who truly run the business,” he noted.

“I view Cascade Labs as a natural progression of this trend,” Trenchard continued. “They sit at the intersection of two significant movements: no-code tools, which empower non-technical users to build solutions like engineers, and the emergence of the modern data stack. This combination is unlocking entirely new possibilities for data utilization.”

He further emphasized that Cascade Labs differentiates itself from dashboard-focused integration tools by prioritizing the delivery of relevant data to the appropriate personnel.