Copia Automation has secured $26 million in Series B funding, co-led by AE Ventures and Squadra Ventures, to expand its industrial code lifecycle management platform for PLCs and OT environments.
Copia Automation, a New York City-based company founded in 2020 by CEO Adam Gluck and Co-Founder Matthew Lee (VP of Operations & Business Development), has raised $26 million in additional funding. This brings its total funding to approximately $55 million. The round was co-led by AE Ventures and Squadra Ventures, with participation from KAS Venture Partners and continued support from existing investors including Construct Capital, Lux Capital, Ironspring Ventures, and Renegade Partners. It included a mix of equity and venture debt.
What is Copia Automation?
Copia provides an Industrial Code Lifecycle Management platform focused on programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and other automation devices in operational technology (OT) environments. It addresses the gap in managing industrial code, which runs critical physical infrastructure but often lacks modern software engineering practices like version control, automated backups, auditing, collaboration, and recovery tools.
Key capabilities include:
- Git based versioning and source code management for multi vendor PLC environments.
- Automated backups, monitoring, and validation of code against device states.
- Visibility, traceability, and alerts to prevent downtime, speed recovery, and support compliance.
- Centralized oversight for OT, IT, and security teams across sites, with support for cloud, on-prem, customer managed, and air gapped deployments.
The platform treats PLC code as a critical asset, similar to how DevOps tools manage enterprise software, reducing manual processes, mismatched code risks, and outage impacts in manufacturing, critical infrastructure, and other industrial settings. Customers include large industrials, with testimonials highlighting transformative impacts on efficiency, quality, and resilience.
Funding Context and History
- Seed: ~$2.2M (2020, led by Construct Capital).
- Series A: ~$16.4M (2021, led by Lux Capital).
- This round (Series B): $26M (2026), bringing total to ~$55M.
The funding will accelerate product development (including features like Copia Actions), expand deployment options, and support OT incident response teams. It positions Copia amid U.S. manufacturing resurgence, infrastructure modernization, and rising cyber threats to industrial systems.
Industrial automation relies heavily on PLCs, but code management remains fragmented and proprietary per vendor. Broader markets provide context:
- Industrial automation/control systems markets are valued in the hundreds of billions and growing at 8%+ CAGR.
- PLC markets are expanding steadily.
- Industrial data management and ICS security markets are growing rapidly (double digit CAGRs in many segments) due to IoT, digitalization, predictive maintenance, and cybersecurity needs.
Recommended: Cytation Launches The Feed And Puts Trust At The Center Of Social Media
Downtime costs industrials hundreds of billions annually globally. Cyberattacks on OT/ICS are increasing, with PLCs as prime targets lacking IT equivalent safeguards. Copia’s vendor-agnostic approach fills a key gap in OT resilience, governance, and recovery, aligning with Industry 4.0/5.0 trends, regulatory pressures, and the need for unified IT/OT security.
Copia brings DevOps principles (versioning, CI-like validation, collaboration) to OT, where tools have lagged. Its multi vendor, resilience focused design stands out against single vendor solutions. Strong early traction with innovative manufacturers and recognition (e.g., founders in Forbes 30 Under 30) validate the thesis.
The round features a mix of new strategic leads (AE Ventures, Squadra) and returning deep tech/industrial investors (Lux, Construct, Ironspring). This signals validation of both technology and market timing, with expertise in scaling cybersecurity, infrastructure, and manufacturing software.
Emphasis on product acceleration, flexible deployments (critical for air gapped industrial sites), and go to market support positions Copia for broader adoption. Focus on uptime, cyber resilience, and compliance addresses acute pain points for plant floor teams, CISOs, and executives.
OT environments prioritize reliability and safety, so adoption can be conservative with long sales cycles. Competition may emerge from established automation vendors or niche players. Execution on multi site/enterprise scale and integration with existing asset discovery tools will be key. Economic or supply chain pressures in manufacturing could influence spending.
This $26M round marks a strong growth inflection for Copia in a high stakes sector where code resilience directly impacts physical operations, national infrastructure, and economic competitiveness. With U.S. onshoring and cyber threats rising, Copia is well placed to become a foundational OT platform, potentially capturing significant value as industries modernize automation governance. The combination of experienced founders, proven investors, and timely market tailwinds supports continued momentum.
Please email us your feedback and news tips at hello(at)techcompanynews.com
