Ripcord, which uses robotics to help companies digitize their paper documents quickly and accurately, today announced raising an additional $45 million in Series B2 funding. The company has now raised more than $120 million on its goal towards scaling globally.
The funding round was led by CDK Global, a leading retail automotive technology company. CDK Global said it will partner with Ripcord to drive digital transformation across the automotive industry to “modernize the car buying process.” Existing Ripcord investors Kleiner Perkins, GV, Steve Wozniak, Silicon Valley Bank, Lux Capital, Tyche Partners, Icon Ventures and Baidu participate in this funding round.
Vision-guided robots
The company’s platform includes vision-guided robots with advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to help digitize business processes that still rely on paper, automating and modernizing customer workflows. The company’s intelligent software looks to free information recorded on paper to make is searchable and accessible.
The companies said car dealerships face increased challenges with consumer privacy concerns and legacy business process that rely heavily on inefficient manual, time-intensive forms and records. Further complicating things is that information from paper and digital forms typically will funnel into multiple disparate and disconnected systems, compounding data compliance and processing issues.
“CDK Global strives to help dealers improve the customer experience in a digital-driven world, and Ripcord’s intelligent approach to digitization supports our vision and benefits both dealerships and consumers tremendously,” said Brian Krzanich, president and CEO of CDK Global.
Alex Fielding, Ripcord CEO.
The ultimate goal for consumers and dealerships is to improve the proves by saving time, reducing errors, and driving down costs throughout the car buying process. “Once you pick a car, all you want to do is drive it off the lot, but today, there is a mountain of repetitive paperwork and manual data entry blocking the exit,” said Alex Fielding, founder and CEO of Ripcord. “Together with CDK’s expertise in automotive and our unmatched digitization capabilities with intelligent robotics and cutting-edge software, we are going to get new car owners on the road more quickly and help dealers perfect compliance and earn greater margins. With this new financing, we’ll continue to expand our offering and transform additional vertical markets across North America and globally.”
The company said it has worked with brands across several industries, including Coca Cola, BP, Chevron, MUFG Bank, UCLA, Cantium, and several Fortune 100 companies, including three of the top five financial services and three of the top five insurance companies.
