Ripcord is on the verge of another breakthrough. This startup, which specializes in digitizing paper records using robots, is in the limelight again as it gears up to raise a significant sum for its next growth phase.
Sources suggest that Ripcord is aiming to secure between $20 million to $25 million in their upcoming funding round. If this holds true, it will shoot the company’s pre-funding valuation to a whopping $110 million. Some major players like Alphabet’s GV, Lux Capital, and MUFG are rumored to join the funding round. While GV and Lux have previously shown their trust in Ripcord, MUFG, a prominent Japanese banking chain, seems to be a new contender on the block.
Interestingly, Ripcord’s journey has caught the eye of tech giants from its inception. Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, was a notable participant in Ripcord’s Series A funding. And if this round is successful, it would take Ripcord’s total funding to an estimated $150 million. The major contributors from past rounds include reputable names like Kleiner Perkins, Silicon Valley Bank, Tyche Partners, Icon Ventures, and Baidu.
But what makes Ripcord stand out in the market? It’s their unique blend of technology. Founded by Alex Fielding (an ex-Apple engineer), Kim Lembo (a NASA stalwart), and Kevin Hall, Ripcord uses robots equipped with computer vision, lifting and positioning arms, and RGB cameras. These robots autonomously scan a variety of documents – they even remove staples! Once the documents reach Ripcord’s facilities, they are scanned, and the data gets classified and extracted. Subsequently, these documents are either stored to meet specific compliance standards or recycled.
Ripcord’s monetization strategy is clear-cut: they charge for these scans, which range from $0.08 to $0.25 per image. On the software front, their platform seamlessly integrates with various third-party business intelligence and data processing software. The end result? Documents uploaded to the cloud, transformed into searchable PDFs.
Recent data reveals Ripcord’s impressive growth trajectory. By 2022, their revenue had skyrocketed to $11.8 million from $5.9 million in 2021. While they’re yet to achieve profitability, projections indicate that by the end of 2023, they might be looking at a revenue of $22.5 million, aiming to nearly double that by Q4 2024.
A significant leap in Ripcord’s journey is its latest integration with OpenAI. This partnership aims to birth Docufai, a generative AI tool designed for document discovery. With Docufai, the goal is to allow customers to pose questions about scanned documents and receive direct answers. This tool, which Ripcord planned to release as a freemium offering, has a promising roadmap. It’s expected to offer document translation features, the ability to find related documents, and collaborative features such as shared notebooks. By the end of Q3 2023, Ripcord has an ambitious goal of onboarding 1,000 users to Docufai, and by 2024, they intend to roll out paid, teams, and enterprise tiers.
However, like any growing company, Ripcord has had its fair share of challenges. A few years ago, the company came under scrutiny due to allegations made by a former employee against the then-CEO and a few other staff members. The company committed to an internal investigation and assured that they would take necessary action.
In conclusion, Ripcord is a force to reckon with in the domain of document management. With its unique robotic solution, robust growth plans, and futuristic product roadmaps, the future indeed seems bright for this innovative startup.
