Industrial automation software developer Copia Automation has secured a Series A investment of $14.2 million led by Lux Capital, with follow-on investment from Construct Capital and participation from Ironspring Ventures.
This latest round builds on existing $2.2 million in seed funding led by Construct Capital with Lux Capital and Liquid 2 Ventures participation. Bilal Zuberi, Partner at Lux Capital, will join Copia’s board alongside Dayna Grayson from Construct Capital.
Copia Automation brings modern DevOps to industrial automation, specifically the coding of Programmable Logic Controllers or PLCs – the computerised brains behind today’s complex manufacturing machines.
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At the centre of the $168 billion industrial control systems market, PLCs drive manufacturing automation in almost all industrial verticals such as automotive, electronics, food and beverage, and consumer goods.
DevOps tools built directly for industrials can drive global improvements in efficiency and reliability.
Adam Gluck, Copia CEO, says: “Traditional software developers have experienced a significant improvement in efficiency and speed of innovation by embracing DevOps practices. Controls and automation engineers have not seen the same gains due to the constraints of their specialised toolsets.
“Copia unlocks these benefits and is easy to adopt and use. It accelerates timelines and maximises the operational uptime of automation systems that power manufacturing.”
Copia’s product offering enables robust Git-based source control with direct support for the PLC programming environments of Siemens, Rockwell Automation, and CodeSys.
All files are centrally stored with their complete history recorded, so engineers know when and why a change was made.
John Sullivan, project director at DMC Engineering, says: “DMC consistently invests in engineering process efficiency for our global team, which is critical for us to drive more value to our customers.
“Copia provides unique benefit as a tool that is tailor-made for control engineers, and enables workflows that previously were impossible for most automation teams.”
Bilal Zuberi of Lux Capital says: “Applying DevOps principles to industrial automation is long overdue, and we are excited to support Copia Automation is leading the charge.
“Today’s manufacturers are facing workforce shortages, supply chain challenges, and increased demand, putting new pressure on organisations responsible for building our industrial base. We believe Copia is introducing a novel solution, right when it is needed most.”
Copia Automation will use these investments to scale its sales and marketing efforts and continue to enhance the core capabilities of its products. Copia’s Team and Enterprise plans are available on a free 14-day trial as both a cloud and on-premises solution.
