Ronbow, a California-based firm, seeks to use its unique design and production software to minimize delivery times and prices for customizable cabinets. Celtic House Asia Partners led a $10.5 million Series A financing for the four-year-old company, which will be used to expand showroom locations.
AME Cloud Ventures, a fund founded by Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, Harpers Investments, Haiping Jin, the creator of Telenav, Weili Dai, co-founder of Marvel, and Ming Zeng, former chief strategic officer at Alibaba, were among the other investors in the round.
Ronbow provides a “end-to-end” system that allows clients to connect directly with manufacturers, eliminating the need for middlemen who used to help transfer design files to factories. Here’s how it works: The startup’s design platform first assists consumers in determining the style and size of cabinets they desire. The data is then fed into cutting machines outfitted with Ronbow software, which drives the entire production process.
The advantages of data-driven manufacturing are self-evident. According to Chen, Ronbow can reduce completion time by 90% to deliver products in three to six weeks and cut costs by 40% when compared to old, manual methods.
Ronbow expects to generate more than $10 million in revenue this year and plans to open 10 showrooms. The majority of its current user base of roughly 1,000 consumers are in California, and include middle-class homes, professionals such as real-estate agents and designers, and commercial clients such as hotels and developers. It plans to open 30 shops by 2024, with annual revenue of $50 million to $60 million.
