Tiger Global Invests in Elementary for Automated Manufacturing Inspection

Elementary Secures $30 Million in Series B Funding

Elementary, a company specializing in artificial intelligence-powered machine vision, has successfully completed a $30 million Series B funding round. This investment will be used to further the development of its quality control and inspection solutions for manufacturing processes.

Previous Funding and Company Overview

The Pasadena-based company was previously featured in June of last year following a $12.7 million financing round, which was spearheaded by Threshold Ventures. Elementary’s core technology empowers businesses to establish inspection protocols without requiring coding expertise.

These tools facilitate the training of models capable of inspecting goods, components, and assemblies with a level of consistency and scalability that was previously unattainable through manual inspection methods.

Details of the Latest Funding Round

This latest funding round saw participation from Threshold Ventures, alongside existing investors such as Fika Ventures, Fathom Capital, Riot VC, and Toyota Ventures. Tiger Global led the round, bringing the company’s total funding to $47.5 million.

Investor Perspectives

Mo Islam, a board director at Elementary and partner at Threshold Ventures, expressed enthusiasm about the company’s progress. He stated via email that Elementary’s readily deployable hardware and software are driving innovation in modern manufacturing facilities.

Islam also welcomed Tiger Global as a new investment partner, anticipating their support in scaling deployments across various sectors including manufacturing, consumer packaged goods, and logistics.

Growth and Customer Demand

Arye Barnehama, founder and CEO of Elementary, explained that the decision to seek additional funding was driven by strong customer demand and favorable market conditions. To date, the company’s systems have performed over 250 million inspections.

Over the past year, Elementary has experienced a tenfold increase in its number of Tier 1 enterprise clients. Concurrently, the company’s workforce has doubled in size, with key executive hires including Milind Karnik (VP of Engineering), Monique Apter (VP of Sales), Krishna Gopalakrishnan (Senior Director of Vision and Platform), and Greg McEntyre (VP of Implementation).

Future Plans and Expansion

Barnehama plans to utilize the new funding to broaden Elementary’s global customer reach. The company also intends to double its employee base over the next year, focusing on growth within engineering, sales, implementation, and customer success teams.

Investment will also be directed towards the development of new AI inspection capabilities, as well as enhancements to cloud analytics and reporting features.

Addressing Industry Challenges

Barnehama highlighted the significant labor shortages impacting the manufacturing and logistics sectors, a trend that predated the pandemic but was greatly exacerbated by it.

He explained that Elementary’s no-code AI solutions provide a valuable alternative to relying on scarce and costly engineering talent, enabling companies to automate processes effectively. The company is facilitating a transition towards Industry 4.0 and supporting quality and sustainability initiatives with a streamlined approach.