Skael Raises $38M to Hyperautomate the Digital Workplace

Skael, a San Francisco-based company that uses AI to automate digital workplace processes, announced on Feb. 21 that the company has secured $38 million in Series A funding to bring its approach to low-code development to more companies.

The latest funding round was led by investor RTP Global. Additional investors in the round include Bonfire Ventures, which led Skael’s $4 million seed funding in October 2020, and Dell Technologies Capital.

Skael will use the new funding to expand the company’s product development, its technology centers in Europe and North America, and increase global sales and marketing initiatives, according to a press release announcing the news. Customers include the San Diego Housing Commission, Google, Signifi and Asurion.

Creating 'Digital Employees' to Automate Repetitive Tasks

Founded in 2016, Skael uses its AI-enabled workforce platform to create and deploy what it calls "digital employees" that human employees can communicate with via email, text, messaging and voice.

These digital employees are actually AI-powered software that automates and performs repetitive tasks across sales, human resources, finance and IT. According to Skael, these automations are created using low-code tools that integrate with most major software programs. The company's machine learning capability then interprets requests and provides answers to employees.

“Our conversational AI engine means people can interact naturally, focusing on goals versus tasks,” said Baba Nadimpalli, Skael CEO and co-founder in a press release statement. “People don’t want to be cogs in assembly lines or sit at cubicles anymore. Skael deconstructs the Industrial Revolution in that our digital employees let humans be more human.”

Learning Opportunities

ON DEMAND

Collaboration in a Distributed Workplace: Tools and Techniques of Top Performing Teams

Watch Now

ON DEMAND

Improve Knowledge Sharing: The Key to Employee Productivity

Streamline team collaboration and engagement

Watch Now

Jun 29 11:00 AM PST

How Mcdonald’s Global Business Service Empowered Employee Self-Care to Drive Productivity

In the new remote/hybrid workplace, work/life boundaries are blurred and workplace stress is a top driver of mental health needs.

Register

ON DEMAND

How to Future-Proof Your Employee Experience Strategy in 2023

A framework to navigate through economic uncertainty

Watch Now

ON DEMAND

Challenges to Efficiency in 2023: Your Employees Need the Digital Workplace of the Future

The era of asking employees to do more with less is upon us

Watch Now

ON DEMAND

The Essential Role of Communicators in Fostering Wellbeing in the Digital Workplace

Join us for practical insights on how digital communicators can support employees to thrive in the digital workplace

Watch Now

ON DEMAND

Addressing Employee Needs and Wants with a Digital Workplace

The workplace is getting more and more digital – both in how we work and where we work

Watch Now

ON DEMAND

Maintaining a Human-Centered Approach During Digital Transformation

When it comes to digital transformation - people drive change, not technology

Watch Now

ON DEMAND

The Evolution of Employee Recognition

Leveraging the power of appreciation to improve the employee experience

Watch Now

ON DEMAND

Are You Blocking Your Internal Comms Team Without Knowing It

Best practices & tips to help IC teams thrive

Watch Now

ON DEMAND

Cyber Resilience In The Cloud Is Not Optional

In today’s age of ransomware and widespread cyber attacks, your cloud data needs to be protected.

Watch Now

View All

Low Code and Hyperautomation on the Rise

This news highlights two digital workplace trends that underlie the accelerating transformation of work. The first is the rise of low-code tools that aim to put software and app development tools into the hands of citizen developers on the front lines of business. According to one analysis, 70% of new applications used by organizations will be developed using low-code or no-code technologies by 2025.

The second trend is the shift to from single, task-based automations to hyperautomation. First coined by analyst firm Gartner, hyperautomation refers to the extension of robotic process automation, or RPA, beyond simple, rule-based task automation using structured data to an AI-fueled automation process that can handle unstructured and ambiguous data and provide recommendations to humans making business decisions. As much as 80% of rules-based business processes could be automated by a low-code or no-code platform. 

“Skael is one of the first companies I've seen that is able to handle the complexities of hyperautomation all while creating a dead simple UI which practically anyone from Googlers to municipal government employees can interact with,” said Julius Schwerin, partner at investor RTP Global, in a statement. "The grand vision of Skael to usher in an era of generalized digital employees is incredibly exciting and has the potential to fundamentally change how mundane work is done for all organizations.”

Skael isn't the only company positioning itself for a workplace driven by hyperautomation. New York City-based automation developer UIPath closed an IPO in April 2021 that valued the company at $29.1 billion. Investors are clearly placing bets that automation will continue to rise in importance as organizations look to maintain and increase their productivity.

Have a tip to share with our editorial team? Drop us a line:

About the Author

Gabrielle Rodgers is an editorial intern for Simpler Media Group, joining the team in the fall of 2021. Gabrielle is currently a digital media major at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina and expects to earn her Bachelor’s in 2022.