ElectroNeek: Making RPA Available to Everyone
In June 2021, AngelsDeck invested in ElectroNeek during the Series A round. The total amount of investment was $20 million. Here is an investor’s outlook on what we saw in the startup.
Robotic process automation (RPA) is a method of automation using robots to perform routine tasks of employees. The business speeds up processes and optimizes the staff workload using RPA. Until two or three years ago, RPA was used mainly by corporations due to its high cost. To no surprise, it was primarily major managed service providers (MSPs) that carried out RPA deployment. However, along with the technology’s evolution, the demand for automation emerged in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which had to scrap their desires because of the costly and often convoluted approaches to RPA. Therefore, service providers were at an impasse when reaching out to SMEs to communicate the value of RPA.
Integrators focused on SMEs to solve the issue, striving to develop a solution suitable for small companies. One developer with a strikingly new approach to robotization was ElectroNeek. The startup’s founders realized that the old ways of creating and implementing RPA no longer worked. So ElectroNeek shifted the spotlight on a new business model that could address the pains of both system integrators and end-users.
ElectroNeek Disrupts
ElectroNeek founders (Sergey Yudovskiy, Dmitry Karpov, Mikhail Rozhin, and Alexey Astafyev) originally planned to implement the classical direct sales model. Yet, they encountered the same barriers as other developers when communicating with possible partners. Shortly after, the founders concluded that their professional experience could give them a second chance. Dmitry Karpov, for instance, was an Ernst&Young California innovations expert. Sergey Yudovskiy was well-versed in the pains of integrators; before launching the startup, he was selling the RPA solutions of the UiPath international automation platform. The founders decided on a pivot whose core was a new business model.
Thus, the entrepreneurs took a revolutionary path for the industry, chose a business model without bot licenses, and focused on the system integrators. The latter, in addition to the RPA platform with powerful tools, received marketing support, co-branding, sales assistance, product training, and insight regarding various aspects of doing business. The ElectroNeek Winter ’21 update introduced a unique automated lead management system, which assisted in handling leads even more efficiently throughout the sales cycle. Combining all the tools and support allows system integrators to start an RPA business and get their first profit in a mere two or three months.
Specifically for companies with little technical expertise and without the added convenience of having professional programmers, the startup has created a no-code/low code builder and an intuitive environment. These tools permit developing a software robot and automating the process without programming skills. ElectroNeek also launched its own Online Academy which offers step-by-step tutorials on how to create bots and lets you practice the skill with confirmed cases for beginners and for those wishing to plunge into the technology.
The new business model has worked, and the startup has accelerated its growth and extension. Currently, more than 250 companies have become ElectroNeek clients.
The mutual success of vendors and system integrators has excellent potential as all parties are interested in each other’s development. Consider the following:
• ElectroNeek creates an ecosystem of innovative products with flexible integration that are tailored according to the needs of the customer. The startup also provides full support for starting and scaling a business.
• System integrators do not pay a bot license but collaborate with ElectroNeek on a subscription basis and decide on favorable terms with their customers.
• Automation is becoming increasingly available to small- and medium-sized enterprises, although previously, the technology was expensive and implemented only in corporations.
Social Responsibility
RPA developers are often confronted with the perception that companies implement automation to lay off staff. The efficiency with which robots can replace humans in certain operations is a significant concern for some employees.
However, SMEs focus primarily on rapid growth. Thus, the employees are the main driving force for business development. It is much more profitable for entrepreneurs not to reduce their staff but to increase their efficiency. To do that, you may want to take a load of routine operations off the team to accentuate seminal tasks. Comprehending the discourse, ElectroNeek’s founders emphasize that RPA is, first and foremost, a helpful toolkit.
ElectroNeek’s solutions create added social value, setting the project apart from other automation companies. Businesses already use the startup’s robots in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Great Britain. The traction testifies that the team has outstanding potential to expand its presence. That’s why we are thrilled to have joined the project and are grateful to Sergei Dashkov, an AngelsDeck co-founder. He was one of the first investors who believed in ElectroNeek, and time has shown him right.
