Gecko Robotics raised an additional $100 million in funding as part of an expanded Series C round that earned $73 million last year from backers like Drive Capital and the billionaire Pittsburgh native Mark Cuban.
The latest infusion was led by two other billionaire-backed groups: Founders Fund, launched in 2005 by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, and the US Innovative Technology Fund, a newly established defense tech backer created by Thomas Tull. Both will appoint representatives to Gecko’s corporate board as part of the partnership.
The announcement comes one month after Gecko, a North Side maintenance technology company, landed a demonstration contract with the U.S. Navy to speed development of its Columbia class submarines.
“This investment is designed to help supercharge our work ensuring the critical assets that our military relies on to protect our national security are ready,” Gecko founder and CEO Jake Loosararian said in a statement.
His company, founded in 2013, is also helping the Air Force modernize its nuclear missile silos. It launched an AI platform in October and expects additional Department of Defense contracts next year.
“Preserving American military superiority requires that we not only maintain, but also build and innovate our critical defense infrastructure,” Mr. Tull, Chairman of the US Innovative Technology Fund, said in a statement. “Gecko is at the forefront of pioneering a new era of military readiness with robots and AI-powered software that will improve the systems necessary to maintaining our national safety and fulfill America’s vital responsibilities around the world.”
Gecko’s board seats will be filled by the Technology Fund’s managing director, Gaetano Crupi, and Founders Fund partner Trae Stephens. The round will allow Gecko to triple its workforce in some locations and increase by more than 50% in Pittsburgh, where it employs 118.
In an interview Monday from COP28, the United Nations Climate Change conference in Dubai, Mr. Loosararian was conscious of how his business could shore up a fragile energy sector.
“We’re going into the winter with the one of the most nerve-racking and scary energy crises in the last 10 years,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure that the infrastructure we rely on every day — that’s way past its useful life — is going to be there for us.”
The founder also reflected on his company’s growth over the past decade, from building a robot as a college student in 2012, to turning down a major acquisition offer from a power plant manufacturer in 2016.
“I was broke,” he said. “I was so tempted. I had like, 100 bucks in my bank account and I was sleeping on the floor of my best friend’s apartment.”
“Turning that down was hard,” he said of the 2016 offer. “But in the same essence it was the opportunity to build towards a bigger version of the dream.”
Fortunately for him and the rest of the Gecko team, which is now approaching 300, the world is starting to recognize the need for more digitized maintenance. Gecko’s $100 million round “came together really quickly,” Mr. Loosararian said, adding that there was “oversubscription” at nearly five times that amount. Having billionaires on the ticket has also ensured Gecko finds “the right individuals at the high levels to drive change,” he said.
Gecko’s funding caps a noteworthy year for Pittsburgh startup investment. The autonomous trucking company Aurora raised $820 million in June. Three months later, Stack AV joined the autonomous trucking scene with a $1 billion investment led by Softbank.
Fourteen other Pittsburgh startups have raised over $10 million this year, according to PitchBook figures compiled by local investment firm Innovation Works.
Other startups have not been as successful. Fifth Season filed for bankruptcy in October after the vertical farm burned through $75 million in outside investments. Sarcos is laying off 150 employees and closing its Pittsburgh offices in January after acquiring RE2 Robotics last year.
But there appears to be plenty of new defense contracts for companies looking to pick up where RE2 left off.
Dozens of regional tech companies visited the Air Force Reserve Command’s 911th Airlift Wing last month eyeing potential partnerships. Rear Adm. Scott Pappano, director of the Navy’s strategic submarine program, said thousands of Pittsburgh workers are already contributing key materials for the nation’s undersea capabilities.
“Pittsburgh is a critical region for the Navy’s submarine enterprise,” he said in a statement, adding that the city’s “new collar” workforce of skilled tradesmen and women are “leading the charge to harness the power of advanced manufacturing techniques.”
Evan Robinson-Johnson: ejohnson@post-gazette.com and @sightsonwheels
First Published: December 5, 2023, 1:30 p.m.
Updated: December 5, 2023, 6:46 p.m.
