Today, with industrial automation and smart manufacturing increasing attention, startup Augury announced a successful financing of $75 million, with a valuation of more than $1 billion. This financing will be used to attract new customers and further develop its core technologies. Augury focuses on using artificial intelligence to monitor the operating status of the machine, and timely identify equipment failures and maintenance needs by measuring multiple factors such as vibration, sound and temperature.
Since its inception, Augusty has monitored over 500 million hours of machine operations, covering a variety of equipment manufacturers and processing processes. "We have the largest data set to date that accurately describes the failure of a machine," its founder and CEO Saar Yoskovitz said in an interview. He vividly called this set of data a "dictionary of failures" and mentioned that when facing equipment such as pumps in factories, they no longer need to build new models for each machine, because more than 20,000 pumps have been accumulated before.
The financing is the first part of Augusty's Series F funding, with the final total expected to reach $100 million, and is scheduled to be completed in the next few months. The lead investor is Lightrock, and other veteran investors also include Insight Venture Partners, Eclipse, Qualcomm Ventures, SE Ventures and Qumra Capital. Augury's revenue has increased fivefold since 2021, with its clients including large manufacturing companies such as Pepsi, Nestlé and DuPont, and has also entered the oil and energy sectors through a partnership with Baker Hughes.
Yoskovitz mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought greater challenges to global supply chains. Although discussions on digital transformation in the IT field are hot, in the industrial field, this transformation process is slower because many expensive equipment is still in use for a long time and usually takes decades to be updated. Augury's sensors can be installed inside or next to the machine to monitor its operation in real time, and train algorithms through the collected data to be able to identify machine failures and their possible causes in a timely manner.
While Augury's technology may raise concerns about job loss, Yoskovitz stressed that the industry is facing a more serious talent shortage, with many experienced skilled workers about to retire, and a new generation of talent has failed to fill quickly. Augury’s goal is to help factories and workers better maintain equipment through “digitalization of knowledge”.
Lightrock, as the main investor in this financing, focuses on sustainable investment. Its partner Ashish Puri said that Augury successfully combines productivity with environmental protection concepts to help manufacturers better use equipment and extend their service life, which not only improves productivity but also conforms to sustainable development goals.
Key points:
Augury successfully raised $75 million with a valuation of over $1 billion, focusing on smart device maintenance technology.
The company monitored more than 500 million hours of equipment operation data and was able to identify faults in a timely manner.
Investor Lightrock emphasized sustainable development and believed that Augury provides an effective solution to achieve green production.