This morning, Boston welcomed a new robotic process automation company to the scene, as Pliant.io announced its emergence from stealth mode with seed funding to the tune of $2.5 million.
Vess Bakalov, a Boston-based entrepreneur and Pliant.io’s CEO, led the funding. Leading Edge, New Stack Ventures and Newfund Capital also participated in the round, in addition to other unnamed angel and family investors.
The company intends to use the seed money to continue the official rollout of Pliant.io’s product, which was formally unveiled today.
We need both talented engineers as well as sales and field teams that truly understand our customers' problems.”
“We [plan to] grow both our engineering capabilities as well as our sales presence — both domestically and globally,” Bakalov told Built In. “We need both talented engineers as well as sales and field teams who truly understand our customers’ problems and can tailor a solution that provides the highest return on investment.”
The company’s platform is designed to automate otherwise complex and/or repetitive tasks on the IT end of a business. Pliant allows users to design workflows that automatically kick into action, and take care of managing updates across technologies, silos, vendors and more.
At launch, the Pliant.io product will serve four functions: event management, service provisioning, data mediation and hybrid control.
The platform is designed for ease of use, featuring drag-and-drop tools that allows users without robotic process automation experience to design workflows quickly.
According to Bakalov, Boston was an obvious choice for the company’s headquarters.
“Boston is a great city that we enjoy living in,” said Bakalov. “Work-life balance is such an important thing for the team of a startup where the demands of the business are often punishing. But it’s also a great place for a technology company with good access to talent and other startup infrastructure.”
Pliant.io represents one of the first RPA launches in the city — though the trend has been building globally for some time. Google Trends shows the topic steadily building interest over the last five years, with a significant climb in the last three.
RPA is moving very quickly and l[...] I think we are soon going to find it embedded in many aspects of our lives.”
“RPA is moving very quickly and like many other revolutionary technologies, I think we are soon going to find it embedded in many aspects of our lives,” said Bakalov.
RPA not only solves an individual technologist’s problem of overseeing repetitive tasks, but RPA helps the industry as a whole, as companies work to fill roles and make work more meaningful all while continuing to exist on the cutting edge.
While some may think of RPA as “robots taking our jobs,” research has shown this type of virtual assistance actually improves employee outcomes and improves overall service levels within a company.
Companies like NYC-based UiPath and UK-based Blue Prism have gained international attention and millions of dollars in funding for their RPA solutions. Experts predict that the RPA industry as a whole will be valued at nearly $4 billion by 2025. It is but a matter of time before other firms evolve to meet the growing need for adaptable IT tech — and Pliant.io is here to do that.
