Robotic process automation (RPA) enables businesses to free up their human capital to focus on higher-value tasks by automating repetitive, tedious tasks. These robotic systems also free up IT departments as they do not require any specialized skillset to deploy, end up being cost-effective in the longer term, and more accurate. WorkFusion has built its Intelligent Automation enterprise-level software that allows highly -regulated specialized industries like banking, finance, and healthcare to seamlessly adopt RPA. The bots learn in real-time and this knowledge is shared across WorkFusion’s bot ecosystem with sensitive information stripped out so that all customers benefit from a network learning effect. The company counts companies like Deutsche Bank, Hewlett Packard, Standard Bank, and Humana as customers and these partners have been able to save up to 50% in time and 50% in costs for tasks that WorkFusion has been able to automate.
AlleyWatch caught up with President and CEO Alex Lyashok to learn more about the power of combining AI, machine learning, and RPA for the enterprise, the company’s future plans, impressive traction, and latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $341.3M.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
In this Series F round, we raised $220 million, led by Georgian — a leading fintech company investing in high-growth technology companies.
Tell us about the product or service that WorkFusion offers.
WorkFusion’s Intelligent Automation software is designed to automate industry-specific manual operations and used to solve critical business problems, especially in banking and financial services, along with other highly regulated industries. By enabling rapid and reliable automation of document-heavy work at scale, customers are able to transform operations in areas such as anti-money laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), lending, capital markets, Treasury services, and more.
At the heart of WorkFusion software is its proprietary cloud-federated learning technology: AI bots learn in real-time from data and end-users with no-code simplicity, then further aggregate and share those learnings across the bot ecosystem. This creates an intelligence greater-good network effect from which all customers benefit.
What inspired the start of WorkFusion?
The company was founded 11 years ago by Max Yankelevich and Andrew Volkov, with a mission to use AI as the foundational technology to perform knowledge work currently performed manually. The company was first to create and shape the Intelligent Automation software category by bringing solutions to users seeking to reduce reliance on manual work in regulated services industries such as banking, insurance, and healthcare.
How is WorkFusion different?
WorkFusion is unique in its approach of automating industry-specific, document-heavy operations with advanced AI. When helping customers choose the right automation solution, WorkFusion relies on its depth of knowledge of key problems. Banks, insurance, and healthcare companies rely on WorkFusion when they want to bring the power of AI learning to help accelerate their employees’ transition to more meaningful work.
What market does WorkFusion target and how big is it?
WorkFusion focuses on the needs of enterprise companies in banking, financial services, and insurance. Five of the world’s top 10 banks (outside of China) use WorkFusion, including Deutsche Bank, Standard Bank, and Axis Bank.
What’s your business model?
WorkFusion generates the vast majority of its revenue from recurring annual subscriptions to its software, along with some professional services revenue.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business?
WorkFusion transitioned to a remote-first operating model in March 2020, with a high degree of success. All go-to-market efforts switched to a virtual format: from in-person events to digital events and marketing, and from face-to-face selling to video meetings. Most importantly, WorkFusion worked to maximize its understanding, compassion, and support as the pandemic’s negative consequences were felt by the company’s people, families, and communities.
From a business perspective, the pandemic demonstrated that enterprise automation is no longer a “nice-to-have” or “we’ll get to it eventually” idea–but a high-priority imperative to remain competitive and agile in today’s workforce.
What was the funding process like?
We had direct discussions with a number of leading investment firms; there’s tremendous interest in the space and our company. Georgian was most aligned with our vision, strategy, and views on the market.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
The Intelligent Automation and RPA space is rapidly evolving, so it’s particularly important for investors to gain an understanding of differentiators and growth strategies of the leading players in the space, and form a hypothesis on the segment and participating companies.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
It all starts with examining our customer success: How are our customers faring with WorkFusion software? Are they licensing more of it or less of it? We consider customer success our top business priority, and therefore our customers enjoy remarkable results with our software. Secondly, our AI technology has unique attributes, especially in terms of learning and enterprise orchestration that provide an opportunity to build a sustainable, long-term advantage. Lastly, our focused go-to-market strategy has been proven to generate tremendous growth, and that leaves a strong impression.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
- Expand research and development into cloud-based automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and no-code solutions
- Grow go-to-market team in order to expand geographically into Europe and Asia, as well as deepening our outreach in regulated industries
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Every company has its own trajectory and set of challenges and opportunities. Our focus on customer success has always been our true north and continues to drive us. Find your focus and success is more likely to follow.
Every company has its own trajectory and set of challenges and opportunities. Our focus on customer success has always been our true north and continues to drive us. Find your focus and success is more likely to follow.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We will continue to grow our footprint in banking and financial services, scaling into more customers and functions within that segment. We also have a strong presence in insurance, which we will nurture and expand. Other industries will be considered as we move forward.
Likewise, our primary focus today is the North American market; we are making growth investments in EMEA and will look to new markets, particularly APAC, in the future.
What’s your favorite outdoor dining restaurant in NYC
Our office is on Wall Street in downtown Manhattan. Nearby Stone Street has had seasonal outdoor seating for its many bars and restaurants since long before the pandemic. I have great memories of eating and drinking there with colleagues. I look forward to getting back to our office, and those big communal tables, hopefully soon.
