AI Data Firm Encord Raises $60M Series C
Encord, a company that provides data infrastructure for AI models, has secured $60 million in a Series C funding round. The round was led by Wellington Management. The new capital brings Encord's total funding to $110 million and will be used to scale its platform as physical-world AI applications reach an inflection point.
Founded in 2020 by Eric Landau and Ulrik Stig Hansen, London-based Encord is a graduate of Y Combinator's Winter 2021 batch. The company aims to provide the critical data foundation for AI applications that interact with the physical world. Encord's platform helps companies manage and label complex multimodal data like images, videos, and 3D point clouds. This is crucial for developing "physical AI" systems such as autonomous vehicles, robotics, and drones used by clients in healthcare, manufacturing, and sports analytics. The firm has seen revenue from its physical AI customers grow 10x in the last twelve months. During that same period, the volume of data managed on its platform surged from one to over five petabytes. Encord serves over 300 teams, including prominent names like Woven by Toyota, Zipline, and Skydio. Lead investor Wellington Management has been actively funding later-stage AI companies, focusing on those building core infrastructure and platforms. The firm views the current AI boom as a massive technological shift and is strategically backing companies it believes will become long-term leaders before they go public. This investment arrives as the AI infrastructure market is experiencing explosive growth. Forecasts project the global AI data center infrastructure market, valued at over $180 billion in 2026, could exceed $2 trillion by 2034. Prior to this Series C, Encord had already attracted a strong syndicate of early-stage investors. Participants in previous rounds include notable venture capital firms CRV, Next47, and the influential startup accelerator Y Combinator.
