For entrepreneurs, moving from idea to design and product development is a big step. Austin-based Gembah helps entrepreneurs and startups make the leap.
Gembah, an end-to-end product development startup designed for e-commerce and small-to-midsize businesses, announced Monday it raised an $11 million Series A round. This follows the company’s $3.275 million seed round in April of 2020. The latest round brings Gembah’s total funding raised to $14.4 million.
“We’re really approaching a big issue and huge market that’s growing rapidly. We really feel we can be the Airbnb or Uber of product creation,” Henrik Johansson, Gembah CEO and co-founder, told Built In. “We will be able to unlock entrepreneur equity and allow more people to create products that they haven’t been able to create before.”
The Series A funds will be used to further develop Gembah’s platform. Funds will also be used to grow the company’s employee headcount and network of partners both overseas and domestically. Gembah plans to double its 70-person team in the next 15 months and triple the size of its engineering team, Johansson told Built In.
Founded in 2018, Gembah helps businesses and entrepreneurs move from ideation to product creation and manufacturing by connecting them with expert resources. Gembah’s platform uses machine learning to enhance workflows and reduce inefficiencies. Great products that sell can move from concept to reality in just 90 days, according to the company. Overall, Gembah aims to “democratize product innovation by drastically lowering barriers to entry for creation of new products,” according to a news release from the company. Gembah’s revenue grew 500 percent last year.
Gembah also made headlines last September when the company hired Johansson to serve as the company’s new CEO. Prior to Gembah, Johansson co-founded Austin-based Boundless and grew the company to $100 million in revenue before being acquired by online marketplace Zazzle in 2014.
Gembah currently has approximately 70 global employees with 50 in the U.S. The startup is actively hiring for positions in Silicon Hills with several remote spots up for grabs.
The Series A round was led by ATX Venture Partners with participation from Silverton Partners, Flexport, Jim Curry, Dan Graham and Brett Hurt.
